The Heirs of the Overlord
by Brandon Storm
Summary: "Our Overlord is dead, again, but this one was all so kind enough to leave us an heir. Or as the case maybe, three. Now it is time to expand, branch out, and conquer."
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note** : Well, my last one didn't work out, so here's another story for yah. Besides how Could I resist a crack at doing a crossover between two series called Overlord? Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy!

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Chapter 1: The Heirs of the Empire

Deep inside of a underground cavern, a convoy of most unusual company was trudging along the underground caves. There were four varieties of goblin like creatures, brown, green, red and blue, riding on wolves, spiders, lizard like creatures and slugs.

"We minions lot in lives, are not the best." A wheezed voice stated aloud. "Our Overlords come, they go, and usually go painfully, leaving us to pick up the pieces. In this case though, our last Overlord was kind enough to leave us a heir." Being dragged along the underground caverns via carriage were three women, a red head with wild hair, a brown woman with silky black hair, and a pale woman with white hair. "Or in this case: Three heirs."

Earlier that day, a attack had been launched on the netherworld spire by a bunch of over puffed shiny do gooders calling themselves the Shining Justice.

"Naturally, we minions defended our homes with all our might. But we were met by a most unusual of enemy. Ourselves." Several Unicorns charged into the Neverworld spire, as the Minions ran to meet them they were transformed, their ears made longer and rabbit like, while their bodies were covered in purple hair and were skipping, all happy and joyful and "GAH GAK! Sorry, I had something in my mouth. Naturally, our Overlord immediately set about expunging this infection from our ranks." And a Overlord he was, tall, clad in spiked demonic armor and animal furs. "But unfortunately..." Said rather intimidating person subsequently exploded under the fire of the enemy spell casters, the only thing the minions had left to remember him by was his boot, with his foot still in it. "Easy come. Easy go."

Suddenly though, the Minions and associates had been saved from the cute fate, by a person dressed in Mages robes teleporting in, and then teleporting all of them out. When The smoke cleared, another red head stood before them, but much older, old enough to be the two human women's mother.

"Much like Rose, the mother to our previous Overlord, Mistress to the one who came before, ex-wife to the top lieutenant of our hated enemy the Golden Empire, Daughter of the man who slayed the Overlord before that one and perhaps most importantly, the lady who changes sides so often that it's hard to imagine trusting her at all. But yes, we are that desperate."

The minions and associates split up with each of the color coded goblins going with a woman each and each of them were led down a different underground path. The browns and their wolves went with the first red head Kelda back to her home village of Nordberg, The greens and spiders left with the dark skinned Juno for the island of Everlight, the Reds and their lizardy mounts left with the now extremely pale once more Fay for the wastelands that surround our one time home the dark tower, while finally the blue Minions and their slugs went with Rose to the ruins of the Glorious empire.

"And so our forces were divided, each of us sent off to different parts of the world in search of survival from the plague of the shining justice, the heirs of our Overlord raised in Secret. But that just leaves you."

Among the group of Blue Minions, there was one brown, a old and shriveled little thing dressed in a shaggy cloak with a lantern hanging over his head, his name was Gnarl, also he was the one who was speaking until now. Rose had rebuilt the ruins of the Empire's Heartlands, making use of her own elite forces of the Fallen Knights, the Silent Monks, and the Cult of the Red Dawn whom her husband subjugated during his reign as Overlord.

"Where were you when this so called Shining Justice invaded our home and massacred us! Transforming us into those... UGh! Things!" Gnarl visibly gagged while he thought about their purple brethren, the Blue Minions visibly shuddered imagining such a horrible fate. "I can take a wild guess, I think you led them to us!" Gnarl stated in a deeply accusatory tone of voice. "It seems that your loyalties only lie with whoever happens to be losing at the time. First you aid your father in defeating our Overlord, then you help his successor to kill him, then you aid the Glorius Empire when they tried to take their tower, but after you blew it up you came crawling back to us for help! Now we have fallen for the third time in your lifetime and here you are!"

"You know better then anyone the cruelties of your former master, tell me again if I was wrong to support my father." Rose was circling around the Minions now, the blues had already pulled out their magic staffs and were getting ready to strike. "After my husband was trapped in the abyss his lands had fallen into chaos, not even you could stop your kind's endless rampaging, I sought to grant you a new Overlord, one who I thought could end the madness once and for all and restore the balance. When he instead sought to destroy it in his mad pursuit of power I aided all of you in his downfall. Now this... Shining Justice seeks it's destruction as well, I will see them ended as I saw Florian ended." Rose stated glaring down at the shriveled little goblin.

"Hmm." Gnarl hummed to himself as he thought about this situation. "In other words we can only trust you as long as we're losing. Any reason why we would keep you around for the long run?"

"To win the war against the Shining justice, you require resources, something that is difficult with the Shining Justice taking control over the continent." Towards this end, Rose brought up a map, depicting unfamiliar lands that was not known to Gnarl. "The choice is yours. Stay here, and rot under the cute plague of the Shining Justice, or leave for new lands for your Overlord's to conquer, and new hope for your species to survive." Rose stated gesturing towards the map. "We'll need to wait a few decades, we can't very well launch an invasion led by three new born babes now can we?"

* * *

Sixteen years later, and the three heirs have grown into one young man and two young ladies.

"Kelda managed to raise a fine young warrior, a real slaughterer of carnage and pillaging! Kirian the Red Eyed Black Knight!" Indeed Kirian's apethet was appropriate, having distinctive dark crimson eyes and wore a suit of full Arcanium plate armor, the skins of some manner of unpleasant animal draping over his body, and swinging a huge flaming long sword in wide arcs, turning to ash all that got in his way. "Of course, he learned everything he knows from us." Nordberg itself looked much like a fortress now, the sanctuary formerly controlled by the elves and briefly occupied by the Golden Empire now dedicated it's magical power to cryomancers who used their power over ice to raise mighty walls and craft horrific monsters of ice and the flesh of creatures, not even the so called heroes who slayed the Overlord could penetrate this place.

* * *

"Juno's daughter is a schemer and political mastermind just like her mother, her cunning and her father's power to rule, Balloma the Fox of Everlight!" Balloma had dark skin, with the swirls of light that often appeared on her father's skin, and a clear preference for her mother's gold accessories, but dressed in black like a proper villainess, she was casually getting a haircut with a group of her constituents concerning a legislation she passed, she asked those who were against to raise their hands, and a snap of her fingers later they were missing their heads. In time Everlight was filled to the brim with every sinful delight one could imagine, and every manner of exotic man eating plant that humanity fears filled it's jungles.

* * *

"Sadly our previous Overlord and his minions were not the only casualties of the cute plague. Queen Fay, previously a mistress of darkness after our Overlord sucked her dry of all her magic, has once again been filled to the brim all that is good in the world, including Guilt, so now that she admits to said draining of both herself and the sanctuary she once governed was her idea now not even those creatures of light trust her. Worst still the infection appears to have spread as far as her child, Koriander The Mad." Koriander unlike her siblings could only be summarized as half and half, her skin was half black and half white, her hair was half red and half white, though the red had been combed over the white and braided together, and she had one red eye and one blue. Her clothing on the other hand was much more single toned, a elegant red magicians cloak with gold embroidery and chunks of bone for plate and padding. Currently she was carving flowery calligraphy into a length of bone, noting however that her canvass had fallen asleep she subsequently splashed a dose of her alcoholic beverage on his wound and woke him back up. "I can't say that I care much for her taste in aesthetics, but her methods are undeniable!" The Darktower had been rebuilt to it's full glory, the forests of Evernight twisted by evil magic and mutated by the magical plague now covered the lands producing a cacophony of twisted and horrific monsters.

* * *

The three heirs each alongside a contingent of Minions arrived outside of the Dark Tower, which would be serving as the central hub for their invasion.

"Why aren't we using the Nordberg fleet?" Kierian asked cocking a brow at his sisters suspiciously.

"The distance would be much shorter if we launched from Everlight." Balloma stated displeasure clear in her voice.

"And the shortest is through the underground tunnels that the minions dug to the new continent." Koriander stated a odd look on her face.

"If we leave the armies behind yes." Kirian stated cocking a eye suspiciously.

"Excellent, we'll lay the ground work, and the armies will arrive behind us!" Saying that, Koriander went into the dark tower, the four hives were loaded onto the carriages.

The other creatures and even the minions themselves they could risk loosing to the Golden, but if they lost the Minions hives, it would mean the extinction of their species, so protecting those hives were as paramount to protecting the heirs. Additionally there is also the matter of setting up a base of operation, lumber and stone was fairly common no matter where in the world you were, and the minions are highly efficient builders when properly supplied, so they were taking the minimal of building supplies with them, besides most of their base would be underground anyway. More important than the buildings were supplies like food and the like, the journey would be long for the creatures that would be pulling the carts, and the minions require life force harvested from a living creature in order to replenish their numbers, a must if they are to establish a beach head in the new world.

There was also the idea of using conscripts, individuals like the Fallen Knights, the Silent monks, The cult of the Red Dawn, The Nether Elves, and the army of former Dwarfen Mercenaries the Utter Bastards could all count themselves among the numbers of their troops, united in a shared hatred of the Shining Justice and their genocidal desires against them. Still after many months underground, they did make it to the other side.

* * *

Carne Village was a simple little town, it produced a average amount of food stuffs for a village of it's size in the area, it's population wasn't too big, and it hadn't managed to produce a exceptional individual in it's entire history. Enri Emmot grew up in this boring village her entire life, working the fields and was probably one of the five strongest people in the village in spite of being a teenage girl. Therefore Enri found it rather strange that while she was on her way home from retrieving a couple of buckets of water this group of soldiers came charging in on horseback swords swinging killing their people.

Among the people that she could see, was her father, he was in the process of wrestling with one of the knights for his weapon, but as they were turning around he locked eyes with her, the word 'RUN!' silently escaped from his lips. Enri foolishly noisily tossed the two buckets aside and ran, unaware that the two knights that her father was attempting to take by himself had heard her noisy. Enri immediately ran into the market place, her father was likely dead by now, but her mother and sister Nemu should be in the market right now.

Enri ducked into one of the shops as more of the knights ran by, but it was the bakery, where her mother worked, and where she had taken Nemu that morning as well. Wordlessly, Nemu's mother shoved the two of them into a closet and closed the door on the both of them with a bitter smile. A few moments later the loud thuds of heavy boots accompanied their mother's anguished cries. Enri had to silence Nemu's cries with her hand, and found herself doing the same thing to her own.

Eventually the steady thudding of boots indicated that the knights had lost interest in this area. Enri opened the cabinet door a crack and looked out to see that they had indeed left before she promptly hightailed it out of that building carrying Nemu in her arms. The two sisters hid where they could as they made their way outside of the village, under benches, in bushes, any where they could find that a passing knight, a Knight who was chasing people that Enri grew up with down like dogs, wouldn't immediately think to look, places that left a large enough view to witness their fellow villagers being slaughtered.

They had made it all the way outside of the village before they were spotted, even then two unarmored young ladies were a lot faster then a group of those brutes. But at the same time, those brutes had horses and ranged weapons, Enri had gotten a significant distance from the village before a arrow pierced the back of one of her thighs. That is how she wound up in this situation, on the ground, bleeding out, desperately thinking and putting together ways to escape from this situation, someway that her sister could get out of this alive, some way that she could grab or harass the knights so that Nemu could escape into the forest, into the forest that was filled with monsters that would at best consider her in the same vein that they would chunk of chicken, a juicy piece of meat to be eaten in one bite.

While Enri was thinking about that one of the knights had dismounted and had approached sword raised up high to strike the pair down in one blow, Enri closed her eyes and held Nemu close to her waiting for the death blow. And kept waiting. Enri opened her eyes and saw the sword wielding knight who was suppose to be chopping the two of them to bits had instead frozen up, the look visible through his helm the same one on Nemu's, her's and everyone else's in the village all day, Fear and confusion. Slowly turning around, Enri was greeted by the sight of a portal that had appeared...


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note** : Okay, this got the most reviews, So I'll start off with this first. I must admit I've never gotten four reviews for the first chapter of a story within a week before. Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy!

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Chapter 2: A New Empire

Construction on the field base, dubbed Nazarick after a great Elven sorcerer, was progressing smoothly, right now work on the bottom most chamber was completed, and the minions were digging their way to the surface. The journey was long but now that teleportation magic circles had been carved into both sides they could resupply from home. Hence the three heirs were enjoying a meal together.

"What I don't get..." Kieran stated as he used his teeth to mangle a turkey leg. "Is why you needed both of us to come along if you could just carve out the teleportation circle yourself?"

"I didn't." Koriander stated simply prompting Kieran to nearly choke on his morsel and Balloma to put down her goblet with a thud before she threw it elsewhere. "Did you two really think that I would quietly suffer alone while you two made yourselves at home inside of my tower?"

"You covered it with flower print, what is wrong with you!?" Kieran balked in confusion, his white hair slicked from running a gauntlet threw it.

"Our sister's aesthetics aside." Balloma stated aloud. "Seeing as how our time for the past two months has been wasted, I for one would like to make up for it."

"Yes!" Kieran stated almost laughing to himself. "There's a whole world up there to burn down! I can't wait to get started!"

"If that's the case then might I make a few suggestions?" A woman in a dark cloak bound by chains and sorcerers tomes appeared before the three of them. "There is a village above us under attack by a group of men in armor." Rose explained holding out a crystal ball which as she had claimed depicted a village under attack by armed men in armor.

"And we care because?" Balloma stated cocking a brow suspiciously.

"Here I was under the impression that you wished to test yourselves against the forces of this world?" As Rose finished speaking she with drew the orb back into her robes. "My apologies, please enjoy your meal."

"Hell yeah!" Kieran stated slamming his fist down and using his other hand to rip a chunk of turkey off and ripped it with his teeth. "If I don't kill something soon I'll go crazy!"

"If that's the case I'll go ahead of you and create a teleportation circle for you." Koriander stated shrugging her shoulders as she disappeared in the light of teleportation.

"Like hell I'm going to let you beat me to the action!" Kieran snapped as he grabbed one last handful of edible matter and ran out into the underground tunnels.

"You don't intend to come with them Balloma?" Rose asked having already moved aside for the rushing Kieran.

"Why would I? Unlike those two I am not so easy to manipulate." Balloma smiled evily while she picked through the scraps of the messy table for something Kieran had not mangled yet. "After those two have softened things up there I will simply claim whatever is left and expand it into our base of operations. In the mean time I will have the opportunity to rework their rooms to my own personal tastes."

"You are going to be a handful." Rose stated before she disappeared in the light of a teleportation spell.

* * *

The portal shimmered before the four individuals, two knights and their two victims, a pair of sisters one of whom was already grounded from a arrow to the leg. From that portal emerged a woman dressed in red but with the face of a demon, a pretty demon yes, but piercing red eyes and dark bluish skin couldn't mean anything else.

"Eenie, meanie, miney, moe." Koriander stated as she used her staff to point back and forth between the two men. "Who has got to go?" As Koriander finished her rhyme, her staff was aimed directly at the nearest knight, he raised his sword as if to attack her, it merely shortened the distance that her bolt of lightning had to travel to strike him. "Now than, oh the things that I'm going to do to you!" The other knight chose to turn and flee, however he was interrupted by the rumbling like a Earth Quake and a armored hand emerged from below to grab him by his foot. The owner of that hand burst forward from the ground, and grabbed the man by his shoulder. Then Kieran bent the man, like he was cracking an egg until a loud snap echoed leaving the man a bloodied pulp on the ground. "Ah you broke him, I was going to have so much fun doodling on him." Koriander stated in a disappointed child like tone of voice.

"What was that about teleporting me here when you got here Koriander?" Kieran asked in a deeply suspicious tone of voice.

"These two attacked me when I got here, so I defended myself." Koriander stated shrugging her shoulders.

"Oi that true?" Kieran asked looking down at the two sisters who were on the ground.

"Wha...?" The elder sister, who looked like she stopped processing the situation since some time ago, could only bob her mouth in response to Kieran's question. "Did these guys..." Kieran gestured to the body and bloodied pulp in armor on the ground. "Attack her before I got here?" Kieran asked in a intentionally slow voice to the confused village girl. The still thoroughly confused and utterly terrified sister could only nod her head in response. "Great, what am I suppose to do now?"

"Well there are more of these guys where those two came from in the village over there." Koriander stated using her staff to point in the direction of the village.

"Eh. That'll work." Kieran stated before he proceeded to walk towards the village whistling merrily. "Now than." A chill went down the spine of The elder sister as she turned around slowly to face Koriander who was leaning over behind her and smiling sweetly. "Those two are no good now, so what kind of flower would you like me to carve into your bones?"

* * *

All of the villagers had been rounded up or killed, all that was left to do now was to kill these prisoners and then burn down the village and they could move on with the next one. That and pick up those two idiots who were taking their time with the two girls that ran away a while ago, how long did it take to kill two people?

"Oi, can someone please tell Edward to not rape the villagers before killing them? We're on a schedule!" One of the knights piped up.

"Oi I'm right here!" And indeed the resident rapist of the group was there, so then who were the two that were sent after the two escapes and why had they not got back by now? The forest that surrounded this area was suppose to be filled with unruly monsters, had the scent of blood attracted them and lured them out? As if answering what happened to the other two a body sailed through the air and landed at the feet of the men guarding the villagers.

"Hello!" Turning their heads at that overly cheerful greeting two soldiers saw a man dressed in the armor of a demon waving at them. "I heard that a massacre was being carried out here at this village and I was wondering if I could join in!?" At once several of the soldiers rushed towards Kieran their shields out as they surrounded him.

"Who are you and why are you here?" One of the men asked shield in front and ready to swipe with his sword. This man was dangerous, they understood that immediately, the body of their comrade looked like it had been crushed, and if the indentations on his armor was any indication, it was done using the bare hands of someone who was roughly human sized.

"My name is Kieran, nice to meet you. But weren't you paying attention earlier? I came here to kill people!" The villagers tensed up fearfully, at Kieran's declaration, one held what might have been his wife closer to him.

"We have no intention of working with you demon!" One of the knights declared full of Bravado.

As if accepting that as a cue, the knights stepped forward and slammed their blacdes into Kieran's armor, bending them at a odd angle in the process, the red glow indicated that they had been heated to the point of malleability.

"A demon? That's a little harsh." Kieran stated in a tone of voice which did not match his statement. "I'm just a kid with a magnifying glass, I see ants, I want to fry them in the sun." Saying that, Kieran grabbed hold of his blade in the sheath at his waist, he drew it out a little and it was accompanied by a little bit of flame. Kieran suddenly yanked his blade out like it was propelled by a rocket and slashed through all of the soldiers with the flame wreathed blade, sending torso's and bits of swords, shields and armor flying through the air. Not only that but the shock wave had carved a trench of molten earth in front of the village.

"Ah-Ah...!" Those that remained could only stare in shock at the monster that ended the lives of most of their men in a single blow, his sword still wreathed in flame.

"Well your blades cannot pierce my armor and your armor cannot defend against my blade, it would seem that there are not anyone here worth sparing a second thought." As Kieran said that the flames of his blade grew strong as he grabbed the handle with both hands and raised the sword to strike.

"Monster!" At once one of the men broke off from the others and ran away in another direction. As if waiting for that chance, Kieran jumped into the air again and swung his sword in a arc, carving a huge crescent into the ground before him and off the fleeing soldier dead in his tracks.

"Thank your fellow gentleman." Kieran stated as he landed behind the would be fleeing soldier, effectively trapping him between molten ground and himself. "For in bravely trying to draw my attention away from you, your lives have been spared another few moments." As Kieran said that, he severed the legs of the knight who tried to run away knocking him to the ground on the back.

"Some body Help me!" To the soldiers pathetic cries for help, he was stabbed in his guts by the flaming sword. "I'll pay you! 100 gold!" And again. "1000 Gold!" And again. "All of it! I'll pay all of what I have!" Kieran did not stop the repeated stabbing of his blade into the guts of the soldier crying out for help, rather the remaining soldiers had another idea.

"Stall for time! Our only hope for escaping alive is to call for Reinforcements!" Towards this end, one of the knights got out a horn, several others moved between him and Kieran and held their shields up, projecting a protective aura in the process. Kieran eventually noticed that his stabbing dummy had stopped moving so turned his attention to the soldiers still standing and heard one of them blowing on a horn.

"This is a strange time to break out into song." Kieran commented looking at the soldiers suspiciously.

"They're calling for reinforcements!" One of the villagers shouted prompting Kieran to give a interested look. "If you don't stop them, then more soldiers will show up!"

"Oh Really?" In response to this, Kieran simply flipped his sword around and stabbed it into the ground. "Well go on, don't let me stop you, having the rest of you come to me is a lot more convenient then going out of my way to chase you down after all."

In that moment something snapped inside of one of the soldiers. They had always looked down people who didn't believe in the Six Gods, pitied them, their short lives, and their eternally damned souls for rejecting the existence of their deity's. It was this same faith that gave these men confidence in their darkest hour, after all to ignore the words of their superiors, who speak for the gods, to obey something as mortally chronically fallible as their own conscience would be same to reject those same gods. In other words, as long as they used the excuse of 'it is the will of the gods' these men could commit any genocide, any massacre, and not blink a eye.

"Damn you! DAMN YOOOOOOUUUUU!" And thus the remaining soldiers ran to their death's.

* * *

"Roses?" Koriander asked walking back to the village.

"Ah... no thank you." Enri replied leading Nemu back to the village proper, since drinking that red potion, more accurately since Koriander dumped it down her throat, Enri's leg was fully healed and she could walk again.

"Oh come on, you're ruining my buzzkill." Koriander state pouting with her face.

Truth be told, Enri was terrified, she was shaken down to her core, she screamed for a few good minuets earlier, but Koriander told her to stop doing that and Enri instinctively reacted. That is what every fibre of her being was telling her. That if she failed to give this woman what she wants then she and her sister would suffer horribly. And right now the only thing she wanted was to have a nice quiet conversation.

"No thank you. That sounds rather painful." Enri stated stress sweat dripping into a false smile. "I have to ask, but do people actually enjoy you doing that?"

"Oh absolutely, my girl friend loves my body art!" As Koriander explained this, she pulled up her sleeve to reveal a surgical scar from someone cutting deep into the flesh of her arm. "I gave her tons of Bone carvings too!"

"So... they're a sign of affection?" Enri asked confused.

"Well sometimes, truth be told I've got a throne back at my place made out of bits of people that have displease me all sorts of ways covered in them too." Koriander stated shrugging her shoulders. "Truth be told it's just a hobby of mine."

"...I see." Enri stated after a gulp. "Is... your brother going to spare my home village?"

"Well... I honestly don't know truth be told. He's kind of a sadist." Koriander stated tapping her chin in a thought, before she suddenly snapped her fingers. "I know! You and your sister can come back home with us and work as a maid! There's no way he would object to that!"

" _Gulp._.. I'll think about it." Enri stated swallowing deeply. While Enri was quietly living in fear of that possibility she came back to the sight of ruin, several trenches had been carved into the ground, they were still burning as if some kind of powerful fire magic were responsible.

"Well come on!" On the subject of which, there was a man dressed in demonic armor standing in front of the villagers with his knuckles on his hips. "No one wanna fight? No one!?"

"Brother." Koriander stated walking up behind Kieran. "Do you not think that if there was anyone in that village more powerful then these inferior lifeforms then it would be they at the end of your blade instead?"

"You make a fair point. Well I'm off for the rest of them then!" Kieran stated waving his sister off.

"Where are you going?" Koriander asked cocking a suspicious brow.

"They called for reinforcements earlier, I'm going to go find them too!" Stated as he proceeded to continue walking Kieran smiled underneath his helmet. "Obviously these were only scouts, which means that the real meat of their forces are further away."

* * *

Inside of Nazarick, the teleportation magic circle was active again, and Balloma was sitting in front of it awaiting the arrival of the forces from the other side. Don't get her wrong, the minions were great, the greens proved to be the most useful of her forces when she used them correctly. But when put into a serious fight, there were others that also proved to be even more valuable than they in terms of pure fighting power, their siblings had also called over a select amount of elite fighting forces as well.

"Albedo! Leader of the Red Dawn!" Quaver, the one eyed court jester minion, announced. The first to appear in the circle, was a succubus of ravishing beauty, black horns and feathered wings created a sharp contrast with a beautiful stark white body, Koriander's succubus lover Albedo.

"Beast Master of the Elves and her assistant, Aura Belle Fiora and Mare Belle Fiora!" Following behind her, two dark elf children with mismatched blue and green eyes appeared in the circle next.

"Paladin of the Fallen Knights, the Bloody Valkyrie Shalltear Bloodfallen!" Contrary to the declaration of Quaver, a young vampiric aristocrat wearing a red and black dress and holding a parasol next appeared in the magic circle.

"Lord of Ice and Vermin, Cocytus of Nordberg!" A huge figure resembling a humanoid beetle with four arms and a long scorpion tail appeared in the light of the teleportation type magic circle.

"Overseer of the Dark Tower, Arch Devil Demiurge!" Man with a tail and dressed in a pinstripe suit made his appearance known next, his calculating eyes briefly going over the other summoned servants.

"Last survivor of the Kindred, Sebas Tian!" The light of the summoning circle produced a handsome but old looking butler.

"The Angel of Sacrifice, Victim!" By far the ugliest of creatures to appear was also the last, a mass of pink flesh with tiny wings off to the sides and a small halo above it's head.

"Is that everyone?" Balloma asked after she watched the individuals line up in front of her.

"As you've requested, the elite forces of you, your brother's and sister's forces have been summoned here mistress." Quaver explained taking a bow.

"Very good. As you are aware my siblings and I have launched a expedition to the new world with the intent to conquer, as such I have called the eight of you here to begin assigning tasks. Shalteer and Sebastian, we will be focusing our efforts on gathering information concerning the nearby kingdoms, so the two of you will stand by and await your orders from me." Balloma stated speaking directly to her subordinates.

"At once mistress." Shalltear stated bowing before the one that owned her body mind and soul.

"Your will shall be done." Sebastian stated straightening his posture before bowing head first. "As for the rest of you, your respective masters doubtlessly have their own tasks that they wish for you to attend, so until further notice you will remain here until you receive word from them."

"With all do respect Balloma." Rose had made her presence known again. "But you yourself felt that the time you spent in the tunnels was 'wasted' so perhaps it would be best to contact your siblings directly." Saying that rose produced her magic orb from which the images of Koriander and Kieran appeared.

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 **Review Section** :

Shalteer Bloodfallen: I understand that you consider yourself something of a expert on Overlord and thus I greatly value your opinion. Had you presented your opinion that is, as it is, your review was only several lines of no, and without any actual criticism or compliment, your opinion is utterly worthless to me.

Kharn: Ainz is not in this story I'm afraid, my apologies, it's one of those 'Take characters from franchise A and replace them with characters of franchise B' type thing.

Luckenhaft: Thank you for your support.

Shiroryuu012: Yes Nazarick is here, no Ainz is not.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note** : Not much to say right now, Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy!

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Chapter 3: The Strongest Human

Kieran was running along the forest on foot, looking at the path as he checked for any sign of the reinforcements that the knights had said were gonna be there. True they might have been hiding in the woods, but they could travel faster on horse then on foot, and horses required paths. Hence his decision to travel through the forest on this beaten path in order to check to see if anyone was coming there on horse back. It was in that moment where Kieran heard a unpleasant ringing in his head.

"Why are you calling me grandmother?" Kieran asked as a image of the teleportation room from Nazarick appeared in his head.

" _Balloma summoned your servant Cocytus from the old world, he and his subordinates are waiting for your orders._ " Rose stated gesturing to the assembled servants.

"Cocytus go get battle rock set up, I want everything ready by the time I get there." Kieran ordered with one finger on his helmet.

" _As you command milord._ " Cocytus explained banging one fist against his chest and bowing before Kieran's illusion.

" _It will be so boring without anything to fight. Aura, Mare, help the big cockroach get everything set up, and have a few choice elements of your collection ready on standby._ " Koriander stated in spite of not being visible to Kieran.

" _You got it boss! They could use somewhere to stretch their legs anyway!_ " Aura replied giving a thumbs up to the one on the other side of Rose.

" _Yes sir!_ " Mare gave a subdued salute in the same direction as his sister.

" _Oh and Demiurge, we picked up some corpses earlier, the Minions are going to bring them back to Nazarick, see what use we can make of them._ " Koriander stated as if only just remembering.

" _Thy will shall be done my lady._ " Demiurge stated giving a bow.

Indeed, most of the individuals there were loyal to Koriander, specifically the two elves that were loyal to Queen Faye, and the demons that Koriander summoned as her followers. Conversely, he had the smallest number of them, only Cocytus being there.

"Oi while your at it get new Nordberg up and running too." While Kieran was barking out orders, he spotted what he was looking for. "I've got some people to kill, don't let Balloma screw with our place." Saying that, Kieran forcibly disconnected the Message spell and jumped onto the road in front of the group of men. "Hello there reinforcements!" Kieran stated cheerfully waving to the group of men on the road.

"Reinforcements?" The man in the lead, a darker skinned individual with rough unshaven features, asked looking down at Kieran with a curious brow on his face. They weren't dressed the same as the other thugs, their armor was often mismatched and they looked like they came from different Ethnics, so in other words a mercenary band.

"I already killed your friends at the village by the way." That immediately caused the men on the horses to tense up, some even went for their weapons. "I'm sorry to say that those knights weren't much of a challenge, so I wonder if you'll do better."

"Wait? You said that there were knights at the village?" The leader of the group of Mercenary's asked cocking a interested brow.

"Yeah, friends of yours I take it?" Kieran asked a grin plastered on his face underneath his helmet.

"Did they have this symbol?" The lead mercenary asked pointing to the crest on his shoulder. "What were they doing?"

"You're not their reinforcements are you?" Kieran asked in a disappointed tone of voice.

Logically speaking, if they were with the group earlier, then they would be wearing the same crests and already be fully aware of what they were doing, in other words they weren't with the group of thugs that he had fought against earlier.

"So then what should I do with you?" As a self proclaimed battle crazed lunatic, Kieran didn't really care about who it was that he snapped like so many bread sticks, but even a cursory glance revealed that these weaklings were not worth his time, in other words he had no reason to spare them or go through the trouble to finish them off. "Ah screw it!" Saying that, Kieran went back into the forest to look for the reinforcements of the ones who attacked the village.

* * *

"So no one recognizes this symbol? No one at all?" Koriander asked, holding up the severed torso of one of the knights, still dressed in full plate mail armor.

"No..." Enri had to resist the compulsion to gag from the smell of burnt flesh. "It could be one of the neighboring countries, but the annual war never got this far." Dissatisfied, Koriander threw the torso down to a group of brown minions who then carried it off to Nazarick. "Now that I think about it though, a friend..." Enri guiltily glanced to the coffins that had the bodies of her family loaded inside. "A dead friend, was drafted last year. When he got back he would curse the Baharuth's blue and grey flag." Finally some answers. "If you'll excuse me. I have to go be somewhere." Enri quickly ran away tears coming from her eyes.

"You're excused." Koriander stated absent mindedly waving Enri off.

Right now she had a approximate idea of the Baharuth empire's strength, as well as their military policies. Rather than launching one invasion and getting it over with, the Baharuth empire seemed intent on wearing down the Re-Estize Kingdom that this... Carne Village that they were currently in down quite a bit first, to which they had been successful for several years in a row. The biggest problem with invading Re-Estize was it's topography, simply put, bar one tiny gap, the entire Kingdom was surrounded by mountains, to put it another way, it was like a massive natural fortress. If Baharuth did invade, they would be stuck in a up hill battle with people who had everything they needed to rain down magic spells and arrows and cannon fire and trebuchet's on the enemy army. However merely hunkering down and tanking the enemy forces meant cutting themselves off from the food and supplies of the people out the outer villages like Carne, essentially, doing the smart thing meant rendering the sacrifices forced on their people for nothing.

"Such a messy state, for such prime real-estate." Koriander stated making a smile on her face.

Aside from the Baharuth empire and the Re-Estize kingdom there was also the Slane Theocracy to their far south, a familiar bunch of self righteous butt pains that got their jollies exterminating any shape or form of non human from the earth. On the flip side though, they didn't seem to have any access to the golden that chased them away from their homeland, but they did have the best magical academies and resources on the planet.

"Oh I'm gonna enjoy this. Demiurge." Koriander stated speaking into the message spell that had been forcibly connected to her earlier. "See how many of those giblets we can get to talk again, I want to know everything that they know."

" _Your will shall be done milady, but what shall we do with them after we've extracted all the useful information out of them?_ " Demiurge asked a hidden tone of eagerness in his voice.

"The undead army experiments of course, prepare them for as many different undead prerequisites as possible and try to combine them together. If it turns out that they can't be revived, then simply integrate them into the undead army." Either way win win. Koriander looked as Enri was coming back, doubtlessly with another thinly veiled request to try and revive her dead family members.

"Miss Koriander, there's men at the gate asking about you." Koriander made a dissatisfied click with her tongue.

At once she pulled her hood over her head and with it a mask that had been sowed in over her face. It was a ugly thing, a red grinning demon and crystal eyes, but it covered up the unique appearance of Koriander which were...?

"Good you can't remember what I look like, that means this is working correctly, now then, lets go ask some questions." Koriander stated patting Enri on her back.

He was a tanned skinned man with rough unshaven features.

"Might I ask your name miss?" The leader of the thugs asked looking down at Koriander from his high horse.

"You are in no position to make demands of me." It was at that moment that Gazef notice a bright light on the shoulder of his armor, looking up he saw something hidden inside of one of the huts inside of the village with a bright fiery light. "I like to call them 'Red Minions.' Vicious little fire balls. A single movement that I do not approve of." The light moved to the ground beside the Mercenary leader, and it was turned into a into a miniature crater, a bright glowing reddish orange. "I think you get the idea. Now than Enri." Now the young villager in question came over to Koriander with a empty look on her face. "Do you recognize this man?"

"Yes, he is Gazef Stronoff, he's the warrior captain of Re-Estize, the strongest warrior in the kingdom, there's no one who don't know his name." Enri stated in a hollow sounding voice.

"There's magic which can easily produce illusions to disguise oneself, especially as well known individuals. Frisk him." Something invisible made a show of poking and prodding Gazef and his men, finally after several moments of poking and prodding something climbed up Koriander's robe to her shoulder, where the goblin like creature revealed itself as if out of thin air and whispered into her ear before disappearing again. "So, no magic items." Koriander stated waving her hand in the air, and the red's lights disappeared. "How very peculiar, one would think that the top warrior in the kingdom would be better equipped."

"I'm afraid that my superiors are trying to reverse engineer our kingdom's five treasures, as such they will be unavailable to me for quite some time." Gazef stated letting out a sigh, as if there were some deeper meaning going on here that he didn't wish to share.

"I have been investigating a series of attacks on outskirt villages like this one for the past several days." Gazef got off of his horse, and in the process landed his gaze upon the trenches carved in front of the village that still glowed with heat. "When I saw those I thought I was too late. What happened?"

"My associate has little in the way of self restraint, be grateful that the rest of this village isn't like that." Koriander stated shrugging her shoulders.

"What a terrifying sounding associate miss...?"

"Lady Koriander Gown, pleased to make your acquaintance." The sorceress stated bowing her head and raising her robe like a curtsy.

"Sense weakness." Saying that, energy went into Gazef's eyes and did a full assessment of Koriander, no weaknesses. "Possibility Sense." The eye energy changed slightly, sending danger signals shooting up Gazef's spine.

"I can see you are concerned about a stranger who doesn't show her face appearing under these conditions." Koriander stated reaching for her mask and pulling it up to reveal a pretty but plain face. Gazef relaxed a little seeing that Koriander was at least human. "Hopefully, this will help to dissuade you suspicions." This was a illusion, Koriander wasn't fond of revealing her half elf status, not to mention the other unusual bits of her features. She wasn't fond of trying to explain complex magical illnesses today. "So if we've established that we're on the same side, perhaps we can deal with our actual enemy." Once more, the green Minion made it's presence known on Koriander's shoulder, at the same time one of Gazef's men ran up to him and said something into his ear. Koriander smirked knowingly, and it wasn't just her elven ears at work.

* * *

Several men in black and silver mages robes were dotting around the perimeter, and they were joined by the bright glow of mechanical Angel like beings with glowing wings as well.

"Mmm. Arch angel flame." Koriander put her mask back on her face.

Aside from no longer needing the illusion, the mask also carried the benefit of giving her the ability to hear and see what certain elite minions could see and hear and control them directly. Right now Koriander was in control of a green minion, who had successfully sneaked up behind a group of the enemy forces as the one who looked like the leader, a blonde haired man with a scar going down his face and had a short military hair cut. However his most notable feature was his eyes, dark black sclera, someone needed to drop their protein intact severely.

"The beast is now in the cage, we work with standard procedure, first we eliminate him, then we take care of any witnesses, burn down the entire village." The Blonde was pretty self assured for someone who lacked the slightest comprehension of what he was getting himself into. "We are quite fortunate on this occasion. Is what I would like to say, but as the target is human, this gives me no sense of satisfaction. Still this would never be possible if he had his full gear, we should probably be very grateful to our sponsors within Re-Estize." Once again Koriander pulled her mask, and put the accompanying illusion, up and looked to Gazef.

"Enri, does this village keep anything you would call a 'beast' within it's boarders." Enri shook her head in the negative, Koriander didn't think so but now the answer was merely unspoken. "Wow what did you ever do to piss them off?"

"Eh. Comes with the title of Warrior captain." Gazef stated letting out a defeated sigh.

"Do you know who these guys are anyway?" Koriander asked cocking a brow, suspecting that he would answer with the Baharuth empire.

"They seem to be from the Sun Light scripture of the Slane Theocracy." Gazef explained looking through his telescope.

"Eh? You sure?" Koriander asked looking surprised by the new information.

"Quite see for yourself." Gazef stated handing over the telescope.

Rather than use the telescope offered, Koriander looked through her mask and the eyes of a minion again, revealing the leader she spotted earlier whose dark magicians robe had silver trimmings and a symbol resembling a sun on the chest. Of course, after all the so called 'protectors of humanity' can't very well be caught running around putting humans to the blade after all. Conversely, the Baharuth empire seems to have built something a of a reputation for charging in and murdering civilians.

"If that idiot didn't kill all the soldiers we could have asked them about their associates over there." Koriander stated letting out a deep and displeased sigh.

"We need to eliminate them before they come here, I would like to ask your help." Gazef stated eyeing Koriander intently.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to refuse." Koriander stated in a flat tone of voice.

"It wouldn't be much if we just took your reds or greens." Gazef pleaded.

"That would in turn lead this 'Sun Light' scripture to conclude that non humans live in this village, and so even after I've cast a illusion spell to make them think that it was wiped out earlier with their men, it would still make them linger around here for far too long, and thus make the lives of the villagers very difficult, especially if they discover the illusion." Koriander explained in a sympathetic tone of voice. By the way, this was a lie, as a intellectual type Koriander preferred to do recon on her enemies before attacking them, her earlier encounter was meant to be a chance to test the resilience of their armor on isolated victims, damn Kieran for interfering. "In any case, you should probably get going, part of this plan hinges on those guys no longer thinking there's anything of note here, that includes you."

"What about your associate? Could he not help?" Gazef asked a questioning look on his face.

"Were we able to contact him, yes. I suspect that he would very much like to dispose of those rabble rousers. But I know not where he is." Not that she couldn't contact him, but Koriander had enough of her brother interfering in her business for the day. "Therefore, the only way to do things, is for you to stall for time while I take care of the rest."

"Understood. I will make haste then." Gazef and his men left to intercept the Sunlight scripture on horseback, Koriander had Enri explain the situation to the rest of the village who immediately chose to hide within the mayor's house, the largest residence with a decently sized store house where they would normally keep their supplies into the winter months. Koriander had the minions bring her a mirror and through it bore witness to the approaching Sunlight scripture. Or more accurately as Gazef, whose eyes Koriander was borrowing for the occasion, road towards them on horse back.

"We will attack the enemy from head on! Break through the soldiers and lead them away from the village!" Gazef shouted, a cold glare in his eyes found only in those that knew they were about to die. "After that, continue to retreat!"

"Understood!" All of the men who followed Gazef shouted at once.

"Go! Cut open their bowels!" Once the enemy was in range, Gazef notch a arrow and fired, watching as it was expectantly bounced off of the enemy's magic barrier. Of course, this was the expected result of shooting a non magic arrow at a magic caster. Realizing that arrows would do him no good Gazef switched to his sword. But as if waiting for that to happen one of the mages cast a magic spell at his horse, and as if gripped by fear the horse froze up and threw Gazef off.

"Captain!" One of Gazef's subordinates reached down to pull the warrior captain up with him.

However Gazef instead grabbed his fallen sword, and saw one of the Angels was already on top of him getting ready to strike him down.

"OORAH!" With a groan of exertion, Gazef struck against the mid section of the angel with his blade knocking it to the ground, but not one to be deterred, it quickly got back up as if nothing had happened. "I see." Normally, a solid chunk of steel sharpened to a razor's edge would be enough to cut clean through. But these, angels must have been enhanced in someway, it could be that unique looking angel that the leader had by his side, or it could be that this particular summoner had a talent that enhances them in some way. Either way. "Martial Art..." The angel dove for a second strike while Gazef's blade glowed with power. "FOCUS BATTLE AURA!" At at once the glowing blade cleanly sliced through the angel and it was immediately turned back into magical particles and Gazef was back on the ground. "Full counter." Muttering that, Gazef was back on his feet again almost instantly, he looked to see more of the angels appearing seemingly out of thin air to surround him. "Anything goes with magic eh?" Gazef could only smile bitterly as he was surrounded by beings whose numbers could be endlessly replenished. "Bastards. But This is all going to plan." By now his men should be far away, and Koriander's illusion in place. "Lady Gown I'm depending on you." At the same time however, Gazef heard the rampaging of a herd of horses. Looking back the Warrior captain saw his men stampeding forward.

"We are the ones who will protect the country and it's people! Stand by the Warrior Captain's side until the end!" And other such declarations sounded from them, not intending to leave this battle without drawing blood, and not just angel blood at that.

"I told you guys to retreat once you grab the enemies attention! You're all idiots..." In spite of that declaration, Gazef's smile returned in force. "And men I'm truly proud of!" The mages divided their attention, confusion spells were cast on the horses making them freeze up and throw their riders off, at the same time the angels struck the fallen riders down. Gazef was no longer smiling. "We are at a complete military disadvantage." Gazef scanned the enemy with a scrutinizing glare, the same techniques his examined Koriander with and got the strongest reaction to the only one not wearing any face masks. "Then the one we have to target is the commander!" Gazef started running towards the enemy, his sword ready to swing, but anticipating this course of action several angels moved to stop him. "You're in my way!" At once Koriander noticed the changes happening inside of Gazef's body, his nerves were firing harder, his heart rate went up to heart attack like levels, the wind itself seemed to push him along and his muscles tense up hard as if demanding that he push forward.

"Hmm. Humans are fascinatingly stubborn creatures aren't they?" Koriander pondered from her chair.

"Martial art: Sixfold Slash of Light!" Gazef's blade was swung in seemingly random directions, but each strike cleaved through a group of angels. Then when he returned to ground level he employed more techniques to forcibly correct his stance so that he could unleash another half dozen slashes. Unfortunately though, he was at his limit, his brain was fatigue, his stamina spent, his muscles sprained and instead of idly floating by and letting Gazef attack them the angels struck at him with the suicidal abandon that only creatures born without self preservation instincts can manage to accomplish. In layman's terms he was finished.

"Impressive." Gazef looked to the leader of the enemy troop as he started speaking again. "To have mastered that many arts, but it's not enough. Summon the next set of angels." On command more of the blighted summons appeared. "Focus your magical attacks on Stronoff!" The mages readied a long series of spells, each of them intending to throw something different at him. At once, a series of different kinds of magics all hit Gazef at once, bringing him to his knees. "Finish him off, but don't just use one. Make sure to ensure his death with multiple Angels." As instructed, the Angels lowered down and prepared to strike Gazef all at once.

Growling Gazef got up to his feet, howling in defiance and readying his stance. It took him a minuet to process what was happening, but Gazef soon realized that he was within the store house the villagers had taken refuge in with all of his men no less.

"Wha?" Gazeff was standing in front of a full body mirror, but it looked more like a hallway, the way that the image continued on endlessly. He eventually realized that the mirror was merely projecting what he was seeing. "You were... spying on me?" Gazef's brain finally shut down under the weight of this realization and he collapsed to the ground unconscious.

* * *

 **Review Section** :

Hero600: If you don't like then don't read, as a fan of Overlord I would expect you to have read the manga, light novel or seen the anime so you should know who these people are. Gnarl was narrating the first several paragraphs, like he usually does in the games.

BMS: Thank you for saying so.

Quentin3655: Thank you. So was I, so instead I decided to write one. Thank you. The minions are going to be more like support types in this rather than serious front line soldiers. The Netherghul's are not a thing yet in this. I intend to.

PervySageChuck: I intend to. Thank you for saying so. Yes they are, and yes, that is their plan.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note** : And now, we diverge a tiny bit from the overlord Manga, which will in turn lead to future diversions down the line. For now though, enjoy! Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 4: The Start of the Grand Storm

" _Amazing the turns life takes, how one tiny change, one simple decision, can plunge a entire world, into complete and utter war._ "

Nigun has seen a lot of things in his capacity as leader of the sunlight scripture. A magician using a simple teleportation spell to swap places with someone on the battle field was in of itself unimpressive. Inside of the Slane Theocracy that is, it wouldn't even be unusual if the opponent was from within the Baharuth Empire. But the enemy this time was the Re-Estize kingdom, a place spoiled rotten from complacency inside of it's natural barriers, the great potential it once had now gone, it had no dedicated knight or mage academy's. They maintained no large scale army, and what forces the nobility did scrounge together to go die in their place were often so poorly equipped that they simply did just that, die. And yet here was this magic caster. That was another weird thing about this situation. Magic casters are not front line fighters, they are support types, augmenting the abilities of individuals who were front line fighters, or at the very least firing off magic at a distance. They don't come out by themselves to confront enemies that they knew out gunned and out numbered them. And yet...

"Who are you Magic caster?" Nigun asked glaring accusingly towards the magic caster that had appeared now.

"My name is Lady Koriander Gown." The Magic Caster in question stated. "I am here in regards to that village."

"Oh really." Nigun smirked at that statement. "Did you come here to beg for their lives?"

"I came because you've insulted me." Koriander stated in a accusatory tone of voice.

"Say what?" Nigun's voice was still full of confidence, but there was confusion mixed in as well.

"You said earlier that you would destroy the village that I just bothered to save. I can think of nothing else that would be so insulting." Suddenly, cracks had appeared in the sky, as if it were some kind of large invisible ceiling, one that eventually shattered under the strain. "What?" Nigun was confused again, one normally treats the sky falling down on them as a sign of the apocalypse after all, through in this case it looked more like some kind of large magical glass ceiling, the sky was still clearly in place above them, so then what was going on here.

"So, they triggered my trap eh?" Koriander could feel it from half the continent away, the screams, the death, the destruction, the creation. Oh she could orgasm on the spot.

"What trap are you talking about?" Nigun asked glaring suspiciously at Koriander.

"Allow me to put this to you bluntly: Your masters are dead." Nigun's eyes went wide at Koriander's statement. "They just killed themselves." Koriander explained using a tone of voice one would use to talk to a small child.

"And how exactly did they do that?" Nigun asked in a skeptical tone of voice.

"They tried to spy on me of course!" Koriander stated laughing as if it was obvious.

"Put her down!" Immediately, two angels rushed forward and skewered Koriander with lances of light. "Weak bodied magic caster's who don't wear armor should not go around speaking so highly of themselves." Nigun stated a cocksure smile on his face, but once again there was something strange going on. Logically speaking, after killing their target the two Arch Angel Flames should return to their default position, instead of simply floating there holding their target up with their lances. It was then that Nigun noticed that the two angels were struggling to get away, as if they were the ones being held in place by someone.

"Not wearing armor? What kind of ridiculous joke is that?" A loud snap noise accompanied the two angels being turned to magical particles, leaving Koriander completely unharmed. "This is my armor!" Koriander at once pulled off her cloak, which then folded itself up neatly and floated at her side several inches off of the ground.

Even though Koriander said that, Nigun only found himself more confused. What she was wearing could not qualify as armor, in fact it looked more like some kind of two piece underwear, of the black and lacy kind, leaving her pale body that was covered in all manner of different tattoo's exposed.

"Underwear?" Nigun asked only looking further confused by this turn of events.

"Ah Hentai!" Koriander playfully shouted making a poor attempt to cover up her mostly nude form.

"All of you! Attack her at once!" All of the angels flew at Koriander with intent to skewer, all of the mages present started to bombard her with magics. This sure fire combination would annihilate without a trace anyone, let alone a little girl only dressed in her underwear. And yet...

"MWAHAHAHAHAHA!" She hasn't fallen yet. "Let's put a end to this farce shall we?" Koriander snapped her fingers and a shock wave of magical power echoed through out the field and wiped out all of the angels and all of the spells like they were never there. "Since you haven't gotten the obvious yet, and I am rather cold waiting for you to figure it out, allow me to explain. These are magical wards designed the neutralize certain types of magic. I have one for every known form of magic, weak low level spells like that would never be able to breach them." Koriander stated gesturing down her arms and legs.

"HYAAH!" One of the enemy mages readied a sling shot on his arm and threw a stone the size of a golf ball to strike Koriander at great speeds, leaving behind not even a bruise.

"And this is a glamour charm." Koriander stated gesturing to the symbol on his neck. "Of my own design, that automatically neuters any damage from low tier weapons and monsters!"

"Principality of Observation!" Nigun looked to the summon that had been standing by up til now with a panicked look on his face, a larger knight like angel that was serving as his personal guard, it's ability to buff the defense of it's fellow angels was the chief reason why Gazeff was having so much difficulty. "Attack!" Even if it was a support type, it's base stats were stronger then the others.

While the knight Angel charged Koriander spotted Nigun taking something out of his coat pocket. Koriander easily caught the swinging mace of the Principality of Observation and looked to Nigun to take a close look at what he took out of his coat and smiled. That was a high tier sealing crystal, capable of storing a magical spell of the seventh to tenth tier. If that thing had a Seraph in it, then she might have to put her clothes back on.

"Hell fire." Saying that, Koriander covered the angel that she was holding with black flames making it let out a screech as it was consumed by the flame. At the same time, Koriander magicked her robe back onto her body, and whistled for the reds in the tree line that surrounded them to get ready to shoot.

"Gaze upon your doom!" Nigun had a huge maniacal grin plastered on his face. "Behold the most powerful form of angel which slayed, the Eight Greed Kings in mortal combat six hundred years ago!" At the same time, a huge light of summoning was released from Nigun's position like a geyser from inside of which emerged a the form of a giant, made out of armor, and feathers and light holding a trident with a huge magic symbol for a face. "Dominion Authority!"

"Wha...?" Koriander was stunned for a moment, before she let out a huge exaggerated sigh. "Well that's disappointing."

"Say what?" Nigun however was stunned by Koriander's non-plussed reaction.

"Hahahaha!" Then Koriander started to laugh aloud as if she just heard a hilarious joke. "I was actually on guard against child's play like this!?"

"Ch-Ch-Child's play?"Nigun quoted unable to believe his own ears. "No that Can't be! That's impossible! In front of a existence that humanity cannot defeat You're Bluffing! Dominion Authority! Use Holy Smite!" Suddenly, the huge trident like scepter of the Dominion Authority shattered and transformed into a mass of holy power that was then brought down on the head of Koriander. "Taste the power that Annihilates Demons! The Judgement of God!"

"HAHAHAHA! OH SO THIS IS PAIN! HAHAHAHA!" The Holy light died down, but Koriander stood unharmed, much to the shock of the members of the brave and nigh invincible Sunlight Scripture. "Oh that felt good, I almost had a little accident with my underwear." Koriander shook herself out of her daze and looked to the so called god before her and held a single finger out. Nigun panicked to move, she said the attack had hurt her, which means that if they can hit again enough times they she will eventually go down. "Taste Despair! BLACK HOLE!" In the direction Koriander had been pointing, a huge black hole had appeared, and in direct contrast with the attack that Koriander had just weathered without so much as a scratch, the angel was unceremoniously sucked inside.

"Impossible!" Now Nigun stared back at Koriander who looked bored.

"Well that was fun for a little while." Koriander stated rolling her shoulders and limbering herself up.

"A power that surpasses demons? Who are you?" Nigun asked in a tone of forced calm.

"My name is Lady Koriander Gown. I am the murderer of everyone and everything you have ever cared about and you don't even know it yet. I am the grand daughter of a god you have never even heard of, the daughter of the Queen of the Light and King of the Darkness." Then Koriander pointed a single finger at the group of mages who had been bombarding her with magical attacks. "And I am here for you!"

"W-W-W-W-W-W-W-Wait a second!" Nigun's composure was completely shattered now. "Lady, no, Lord Koriander Gown! All of us... No I alone am enough!" Nigun's men followed suit when they realized their leader was selling them out. "If you spare my life, I will give you whatever r-reward that you Wish!"

"Spare your life?" Koriander was laughing again. "Why would you ask me to do something like that, from the beginning, I had no intention of doing something as merciful as killing you." Now Koriander had turned her back to the men. "Wrap this up! If they resist, be creative, but no killing!" Suddenly, several spider web like nets were thrown out of the forest and over the bodies of the Sun light Scripture.

While that was being wrapped up Koriander called over a brown with one of their Goblin Wolves and sat down on it rather leisurely before Koriander put her mask back on.

"Record." Muttering that command, Koriander took control over her latest summons.

* * *

More than just letting her control her minions directly, the mask also allows her to take direct control of her other summons as well. For example, after tying in a super tier spell to her counter surveillance barrier, it took a while for it to take full effect, and produce a high tier monster on the other side. With the cast time completed, the time was now for Koriander to witness the genocide that she had committed. The Super Tier spell was called Iä Shub-Niggurath a monster of a spell that would instantaneously kill everything within a certain radius, and then convert all of the piles of dead bodies caught within into raw material for the Dark Young, a high tier monster composed of the corpses of roughly five hundred people.

A Dark young is a giant mass of undead flesh, with relatively tiny legs, and massive long reaching tentacles, it is said that they often resemble the old gods described as gargantuan faceless masses of tentacles. In this case, many of the slaughtered people in question were wearing armor made from quality materials, for those who didn't know about high tier materials, that could hold a substantial amount of magical power, and thus were being infused with the Dark Young's power. And right now, Koriander could feel the presence of four of them, with her talents in place that enhance her summons, their power should be on the same level as Ninth Tier beings.

" _Let's have some fun! Oi, gods of the Slane Theocracy! If you're out there then I just wiped out your people! Come at me and strike me down right now! I demand it!_ " Koriander shouted laughing.

Indeed, Four High Tier beings, five hundred dead for each one of them, and that was just their birth, they hadn't even killed any one yet, though that soon changed. Huge tentacles reached out and slashed through buildings, panicking citizen's trampled each other trying to get away. Magic casters took to the air, and started raining down holy attacks on the gargantuan undead monsters dealing minor damage. Tentacles with sharpened bones and weapons infused with unholy power lashed out and struck down several of the magic casters. One old woman in a white one piece body hugging dress depicting a golden dragon fired a spell of huge power on one of the Dark Young, and Koriander soon felt her control of that one failing her.

" _So? You have World Tier Items eh? Well it wouldn't be fun if we were the strongest things here._ " Using the last vestiges of control on that Dark Young, Koriander had the undead mass of flesh lash out with one of it's tentacles, and that sorceress was skewered on the bones of one of her country men as Koriander lost complete control over one of her summons. " _There, situation under control._ " Koriander had lost control over one of her Dark young, but it had been left in a state where it would indiscriminately attack anything that got close to it, so she would be okay if it was like this for now.

Suddenly however, familiar lights came from the four temples that bordered the Slane Theocracy. Using a magic ritual that took a absurd amount of time and man power to prepare, it was possible to easily summon the same high level angelic beings that had been used against Koriander, Dominion Authority. There were differences when compared to the one that Nigun had summoned, for starters the crystal could be compared to a loaded gun, you can load it prior to a battle and then shoot it off a limited number of times. The downside of this was that it only had the skills of Nigun, the summoner to work with. However by the looks of the flow of mana within those temples, each of those temples had dozens of people working in tandem to cast that spell, and if the people behind the decision making processes in this country were smart, those summoners would be people with talents that can enhance a summoned creature, in other words, they were close to power to Koriander's Dark Young. In addition to that, holy type monsters would have an advantage against undead type monsters like Koriander's Dark Young. In layman's terms, Koriander's monsters were at an disadvantage. The Five Angels used Holy Smite Simultaneously, and Koriander felt another jolt going through her body as the Dominion authorities brought their wrath down on one of the Dark Young. However, among those slaughtered in the birth of the Dark young, were spell casters that Koriander could act through.

" _Triplicate Maximise Magic! Black Hole!_ " Several Black Holes appeared and soon sucked in the angels like the one Koriander had done before.

That was another down side to the use of a magic ritual over the sealing crystal, they could rapid fire summons for as long as they had more crystals, but the ritual to summon these creatures need a great deal of time and resources to cast. In layman's terms, their sure fire defenses that could stop a army dead were now depleted. Still, they fought well, one of her Dark Young was near dead, and another was no longer under her control, once again the stubborn resilience of humans had shown through in force. And they were not done yet, using fly magic, a young woman possessing white and black hair, and both silver and black eyes dressed in a impressive looking armored robe carrying a huge cross shaped war-scythe.

" _So the nation of 'human supremacy' has a half elf in their ranks eh?_ " Koriander laughed once more, but she focused on the battle going on half a continent away.

Aside from the Half Elf, a group of knights in armored robes had appeared as well, and they focused on one of the two remaining Dark Children under Koriander's control while the Half Elf focused on the other. The Half used fly to bob and weave through the tentacles of the Dark Young and stabbed into the center of that mass of flesh with her war scythe before ripping it out, dealing critical damage to the Dark Young and causing it to fall apart. Of course, it still wasn't over yet. There were still two Dark Young left, and as for the one that just 'died' it's flesh merely transformed into hundreds of smaller weaker undead of the middle tier, Death Knights, Jack the Rippers, Elder Liches, Corpse Collecters and the like now filled the streets. Obviously, Koriander could not control a army of undead half the continent away by herself, but the bodies of the trampled civilians were being reanimated in mass through the presence and actions of the newly born undead. The other team was bobbing and weaving through two more of the Dark Young, one under her control, and one not. The one that wasn't was successfully lured into attacking the other with high level spells, and soon both of them were shedding more mid tier undead as the battle progressed and soon Koriander only had one Dark Young under her direct control left, and that was finished off by the half elf. The Forms that the Divided Undead took on after the massacre were too many for the lone Koriander to control so she ultimately had to drop out as commander for that battle, still the damage was done. That small country had it's civilian population decimated, it had it's military strength depleted and it's infrastructure was destroyed, even if those people could wipe out the remaining undead they were still finished.

" _Mwahahahahahaha!_ " Koriander suddenly broke out laughing again, a big grin plastered all over her face. " _Hyahahahahahaha!_ " And there goes her underwear.

* * *

Gazef couldn't say that Koriander hadn't lived up to her part of the bargain which amounted to, he buys time and she takes care of the rest. Still, he couldn't shake the feeling that he had been lied to. Still it wasn't like she didn't take good care of him and his men and the villagers. They had all received healing potions more powerful than anything that he had ever tasted, the illusion had been put up around the village, and everyone was safe. And yet, the minions had not let them leave yet. Not only that, but with that huge mass of magic he saw a while back, his concern for Koriander's safety was evident. However, a sight that way laid his worries soon appeared, Koriander who was riding on the back of one of her Minion's wolves.

"Now, now, this isn't necessary now." With a tap of Koriander's finger the illusion disappeared, the staff wielding reds that had been keeping Gazef from moving let him past and he rushed to meet her.

"You lied to me." Gazef stated looking at Koriander with a sour look on his features.

"And you're complaining because...?" Koriander replied in a sarcastic tone of voice.

"I'm not, but I would've like to have known that you had a plan." Gazef stated shrugging his shoulders. "What happened to the Sunlight Scripture?" Gazef asked cocking a suspicious brow at Koriander.

"They died, instantaneous vaporization." Koriander stated with a shrug of her shoulders as if obvious. "You might have noticed that huge bolt of light that came down on their heads a little while ago."

"You can actually cast a spell like that?" Gazef asked in shock. "No. But you are aware that I am very good with teleportation magics." Koriander stated with another shrug of her shoulders.

"But the angels..."

"BOYS!" To Koriander's shout, several red Minions emerged from the tree line behind her. "Since they stayed hidden, they didn't see them, and sent all of their angels into their cross fire, and they could no longer put Angels out faster then what we could strike them down, so it ended up like that."

"You really are a terrifying creature." Gazef stated letting out a sigh. "On behalf of his majesty Ramposa Re-Estize the third, I would like to offer you a position as high sorcerer of his court."

"Yah, no, not happening." Koriander stated flatly. "I've seen how your superiors treat those under them, I'll have no part in it."

"And if I was to force the issue?" Gazef asked prompting the Reds to ready their staves to strike.

"Then I'm afraid we will have to put up a bit of resistance."

"Forget about it." Gazef stated releasing a sigh of relief.

* * *

Later on, Koriander had returned to Nazarick where she sat down to breakfast with both the floor guardians and her family and Gnarl.

"Do anything interesting sister?" Kieran asked sarcastically. He knew exactly what Koriander was up to, stealing his kills all day long.

"Oh not much, I simply wiped out the strongest nation on the continent."

Everyone stopped eating after that.

* * *

 **Review Section** :

BMS: Glad you liked it.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note** : Starting to get excited about this story, but FYI I'll also be screwing around with the chronology a little bit, so bare with me.

* * *

Chapter 5: Back on Track

Gazef had just arrived back to E-Rantle and in the king's court, off to the side he spotted a large number of nobles who were glaring contemptuously at him, doubtlessly disappointed that their little plot to assassinate him failed. Now they needed to listen to his report in order to determine how much he knew/was willing to reveal.

"Your Majesty, King Ramposa III." The man in question was very old, over eighty years of age to be precise, he sat on the throne for almost half of his life and the stress of running a kingdom showed through in force, he looked even older and more wrinkled since the last time he say him a mere two weeks earlier. "As you instructed, I and my men went out to investigate a string of villages that had been sacked by unknown persons. When I arrived at Carne Village, I learned that persons dressed in the armor of the Baharuth empire had been attacking the village, but were interrupted by a warrior in black armor wielding a flaming sword." The explanation got mixed reactions out of the nobles, there was mild relief that they had not been found out, but more then anything there was anger at the mention of their hated rivals.

"Damn Baharuth! This must be a prelude to their annual invasion!" The one who declared that while banging his fist on his chair was a slim blonde haired man, Marquis Raeven, a two faced man who frequently switch sides between those who supported the king and those who supported the nobles to take control over the seemingly failing kingdom. "Prepare the draft orders, assign the men to the ballista's, check the..."

"Marquis." Gazeff interrupted the Marquis, who only directed him a contemptuous glare. "There's more." At once the Marquis sat down in his chair making his displeasure at being interrupted known. "As I said, they were dressed in the armor of Baharuth, but I believe that they were working with the Slane Theocracy, specifically the Sunlight scripture." That made the nobles concerned once more. It raised several questions, for starters if he knew about their presence it meant that Gazeff had encountered the Slane Theocracy and lived, which means that not only had he escaped death at the hands of one of their special ops teams without any of his normal equipment but it also meant that the likely hood that he had evidence of who hired them as well. "However, as I confronted them, I was saved by a traveling sorceress known as Lady Koriander Gown."

"A sorceress?" The Marquis asked cocking his brow. Sorceress's weren't known for being front line fighters, aside from being female, and the stereotypes associated therein, they also tended to skimp on the armor and physical training, all of these facts meant that it was common policy to keep them off the front lines. And yet, this one apparently defeated one of the six scriptures.

"She used a teleportation spell to extradite myself and my men from certain doom, and with the aid of a group of goblins under her command, wiped out the Sunlight scripture." That rallied the Nobles, causing many of them to let out heartfelt laughter. The Sunlight Scripture was well known for their use of magic to summon Arch Angel flames to battle, the idea that one sorceress supported by a herd of weak creatures like goblins was laughable. "I urge you to pay caution. Though the goblins were weak in body I believe they are capable of using some kind of Magic. I saw one turn invisible right before my eyes, and another nearly took my head off with a fire ball attack." With that, Gazef had said too much.

"Well if she was taking shots at the Warrior Captain, then obviously she must be a enemy of the Kingdom." One Noble piped hypocritically.

"Agreed, if she is as powerful as the Warrior Captain says then she should be eliminated."

Gazef turned on them retort ready when suddenly someone ran into the room. He was a thin man, dressed lightly and panting heavily, a messenger, one with rather important news to share.

"The Slane Theocracy has fallen!" That got the attention of all of the men in the room. "Four Massive Undead Appeared..." The Man made a show of sharply intaking air, trying to catch his breath. "In the middle of their capital and laid waste to their city! In the wake of their fall a massive army of powerful undead have taken over the country!" That got everyone rattled, and panic and fear instantly filled the faces of those present, bar a few notable exceptions.

"SILENCE!" The King had stood up with that loud yell, with everyone in the room following his instructions obediently. "I must ask everyone here not to panic. Marquis, send a message to whatever form of government the Slane Theocracy has left informing them that any of their refugee's who wish to live within our borders are welcomed." Yes that made sense, smiles crept onto the faces of the nobles as they realized they had a chance to absorb a fraction of the strength of the Theocracy, the strongest human nation on the planet. "The rest of you, prepare a draft for all able bodied young men, we need to secure the boarders against the Argland Council and the Baharuth empire."

* * *

Having just finished explaining the Re-Estize Kingdom and it's various neighbor's, Demiurge now used a pointing stick to draw those present attention to another area on the boarder of Re-Estize.

"On the subject of which, the Argland council state, the country on the far side of Re-Estize's walls, is a nation of demihuman's and heteromorphic beings, ones that are ruled by a council consisting of powerful dragons numbering roughly five to seven." Nigun had become Demiurge's new favorite play thing since the days that the minions had brought him into his midst, and he in turn had been rather forth coming with information concerning the other nations on the continent. "The Baharuth empire on the other hand is close to the Slane Theocracy's level of power prior to it's massacre, and is now in all likely hood the strongest human nation on the continent, they like the Re-Estize Kingdom will likely try to take in as many of the Slane Theocracy's refugee's as possible." Going from the far left Demiurge directed the group's attention straight up. "The Roble Holy Kingdom is to the north, they seem to be divided into northern and southern kingdoms by a massive bay, they've constructed a great wall and patrol it regularly in order to fend off a large number of Demihuman tribes further north, everyone in that nation should be considered a member of the military." Finally, Demiurge settled on a kingdom down south. "Finally, we have the Dragon Nation. Although founded by a dragon lord, that place is the weakest among the military powers and faces regular raids from beastmen of the Abellon hills. They had a long standing alliance with the Slane Theocracy, resources in exchange for military support. That concludes my report about the major military powers on the continent." Once Demiurge went to sit down, Koriander was up next.

"I've been in communication with my undead, it seems that they have a rather formidable person on their side who has been making a show out of slaughtering them." Koriander stated shrugging her shoulders. "I Haven't been able to get to any of their shinies yet, worst yet, there's a small possibility that they're using this situation to increase their military power." That got everyone's attention, especially Kieran's. "As they slaughter the undead, they are using magic to resurrect them as living breathing humans. But they retain the enhanced stats of their undead selves." A similar trick was used to enhance upon their own 'Fallen Knights.' "Whenever they do get their act together, the restored Slane Theocracy might end up being a bunch of terrors."

"Sounds like we should be paying them a visit." Kieran stated a odd edge in his voice.

"If you wish to reap the harvest before it has ripened that is your business." Rose was for the most part sitting at the back of the room, as she should, many here were weary of her tendency to switch sides so often, though she had seemingly remained loyal for these past twenty years. The fact that she was actively convincing them not to strike at a potential enemy who was rapidly gaining power only added to their suspicions of her.

"One of the people over there manage to dismantle Kori's Dark Young right?" Kieran asked leaning his head to the side in a manner similar to a cocksure smile. "It sounds like it is pretty ripe to me."

"Are you also not easily capable of slaying a Dark Young?" Rose asked her tone carrying a under current of implication.

"Yeah. So?" Kieran asked not quite understanding the situation here.

"So which is better? Fighting one opponent who is on the same level as you, or several?" Kieran paused, flabbergasted, his mind slowly stirred to life with those words.

"Cocytus, it sounds like we're gonna have some fun soon!" Kieran stated excitedly holding his gauntlet up to his cockroach like friend.

"Indeed. Master." The large insectoid made a show out of bouncing his tail off of the floor before he bumped one of his meaty armor plated fists against Kieran's.

"Wait. But don't that mean we're going to have to wait before we go after the Slane Theocracy again?" Contrary to Kieran's excitement, he now suddenly seemed dejected.

"Then perhaps we should focus on finding strong warriors to send back to our homeland." Balloma stated, making her voice known. "If we do not wish for them to be turned against us by the Golden, then we must avoid sending 'evil' creatures to fight. It would be more convenient if we can send individuals immune to their effects all together." Balloma stated making her voice known.

"Among the major holdouts against the Shining justice, are the Dark Elves, The Dwarfs and the Kindred. Only they have shown total resistance against the Golden." Demiurge followed up pushing his glasses up. "I have prepared a recommendation for a breeding program to produce strong warrior's." With that, Demiurge dropped three bundles each several inches thick in front of the group. "The hybrids will be a mixture of characteristics from Dwarfs, Dark Elves and Dragons."

"I would prefer to reclaim our home land while we still walk among the living Demiurge." Balloma stated making her displeasure known as she and her siblings each took a section of the proposal. "Let alone reading your report, all of what you just described age at a ridiculously slow rate, those two brats over there are almost eighty years old." Balloma stated indicating Aura and Mare. "I'm not waiting a hundred years to see Ever Light again."

"Hmm. Chimera magic, and a artificial womb." Koriander stated reading her section of the report. "Producing adult warrior's with this magic shouldn't be much of a problem."

"Estimated 15 times human strength, plus proposals on power leveling through undead reanimation and then revival." Kieran seemed satisfied with his part of the report and threw it down. "A good start assuming that we can put a little bit of muscle on em."

"Hmph. If you two are so confident then we clearly have nothing to worry about." Balloma stated dissatisfied as she threw her part of the report, which detailed the various arms and armor for the hybrids, onto the table.

"Naturally, I will be discussing methods of training with both the warrior and mage branches of our organization. This report should only be considered the prototype stage." Demiurge explained picking up on the hint of dissatisfaction coming off of Balloma. "That is all."

"I will be inserting myself into Re-Estize for the next little while." Balloma stated casually. "It's my intention to insert myself into their court, and subvert their forces with our own. I will need to speak with Hakon about adding some diversity to the armor's of the Fallen Knights, a mercenary company appearing out of no where will be less suspicious than a new order of knights. To garner prestige we should go to the Dragon Kingdom and take the place of the recovering Slane Theocracy as their defenders."

"I will focus on magical research and development to strengthen our own standing." Koriander stated with a shrug. "I've been pillaging the minds of the undead Slane Theocracy and I've picked up some new ideas I wanna work on." Both of the ladies turned their heads to Kieran, as if expecting him to say something.

"Don't look at me, my best idea's been shot down already." Kieran stated shrugging his shoulders.

"Then if I might be so bold to suggest." Rose held out a flyer for a group calling themselves 'the Adventurer's guild' and Kieran leaned over his chair to grab it from her. "They operate independently from the crown, eliminate dangerous monsters, and the highest ranked ones are usually employed by the royalty for a sizable fee." Kieran pondered the flyer and it's promises of adventure for a few moments with suspicion. "If you wish to spend your days lounging about letting your skills grow dull that's your business." Rose stated with a shrug of her shoulders.

* * *

After that, the siblings went their separate ways. Kieran took one of the silent monks and a contingent of greens with him as they went into the nearby fortress city, depending on how things worked out over there he would bring along a contingent of select Browns in appropriate disguises. E-Rantle was built on Re-Estize's side of a huge length of grass land known as the Katze Plains that separated them from their hated rivals the Baharuth empire. As such, this place was built for the singular purpose of supplying it's troops for the front lines. Kieran was barely a member of the self proclaimed adventurer's guild and he was already annoyed with them, firstly they had made him take a test and pay them for the privilege, then they assigned them their lowest rank a mere copper plate, and after that they told him to report to this shoddy inn for some strange reason. When Kieran walked in he immediately felt a great many eyes were on him. His keen ears could here people discussing his armor, they were right about it being Adamantite at least, Koriander suspected that if someone showed up with a armor set made out of material no one had heard of he'd immediately be exposed as coming from another continent. Instead they simply made it out of the same material as that Head warrior or whatever he was called armor, that should reduce their suspicions. Additionally, now he had two long sword's, in order to compensate for the one of superior quality that he also couldn't use without drawing suspicion, but kept his wolf pelt cape, though given the local climate he might have to consider losing it.

"Oi we were told to come and talk to you?" Kieran stated walking up to the inn owner.

"Aha, I can give a cheap room for five silvers." The Inn owner stated as he used a cloth to polish a glass.

"Is that it?" Kieran asked cocking a suspicious brow.

"You don't seem to understand how this works, so allow me to explain. Those, unlike you, are experienced adventurers." The Inn owner stated gesturing to the men who by now had rightfully dismissed Kieran as a noob. "You are here, to submit your resume and join one of their groups."

Ah, so that was it. Muttering something about a waste of time Kieran dropped the money for the room on the counter and went for the stairs. Kieran didn't even like sleeping in doors, a house cat he was not, but he didn't have time to set up camp away from the city, so instead he just went to bed. One of Kieran's would be employers grinned as he stuck his foot in Kieran's path. Kieran paid that man little mind as he stepped over the foot.

"Ow that hurt." The man, a Iron plate placing him a whole notch above Kieran much to his displeasure, got up to confront him. "I wonder..."

"You're mistaken." Kieran stated in a voice of barely contained hostility.

"And what is..." The man was suddenly silenced, nor was he standing where he had been before. In his place was Kieran's fist, having hit him so hard that he was sent clean across the room, smashed a table to splinters to the shock of the person sitting there, and landed on the other end of the inn ass over head.

"That Hurt." In reality, the man had likely been rendered unconscious so fast that he hadn't even felt any pain, that said, he would be sore tomorrow. "Oi!" Kieran turned his attention to the man's teammates who looked back to him with fear. "You part of his team." One nodded. "Pay for the table he broke with his face." Saying that, Kieran left for the stairs once more, confident that no one would be picking a fight with him now.

"HEY YOU!" Rolling his eyes, Kieran turned around to face the woman whose table he had destroyed. "Do you know what you've done!?"

"Ending a fight before it started. Good night." Kieran turned for the stairs once more.

"Do you have any idea how much that health potion cost me!?" Kieran gave a roll of his eyes as he turned to face the woman.

"More than just money, I had to starve myself and take job after job for weeks just to pay for it! I figured I could complete any dangerous mission so long as I had a potion to heal me in a dangerous situation!" The Woman almost had tear's in her eyes as her potion went to work healing the wounds of the man Kieran just threw into her table.

"Oi, pay for her potion." Kieran barked to the men who were helping their broken comrade out of his compromising position.

"We'd like to but..." But based on the woman's description it was a potion of considerable cost that they couldn't afford.

"Frig it. How about a trade then, one of my potions for yours?" The woman nodded to the deal. Kieran went over to the bar and took a empty bottle, then he took what looked suspiciously like a horn someone had turned into a flask, opened it, and pored a small portion of it's contents into the bottle and ended with corking it. "Satisfied?" Kieran asked giving the woman the bottle. "If it's not up snuff we can discuss another form of payment, but I will want that back if that's the case."

"That sounds reasonable." The woman nodded with a odd look on her face.

"Oi." Once again the men who had earned Kieran's wrath straightened up, as if they were being addressed by a ruthless task master. "You guys all work for her now got it!?" They nodded in response and with that Kieran turned to address the room. "Is there anyone else who would like to pick a fight with me!?" No one answered, some even fearfully shook their heads. With that, Kieran went to his room alongside the silent monk who had accompanied him. "You can come out now." At once a group of green minions appeared on the bed meant for Kieran. "I got someone to look at Kori's stupid potion for me, and I've been given a bottom tier rank. Tomorrow I'll discuss with my sisters about ranking me up. They've got no problem with Elves and Dwarfs joining but Goblins like you fall into the unfortunate category of 'pest to be eliminated' so starting tomorrow you and any other Minions coming with me are wearing Dwarf disguises am I understood?" Nodding in understanding, the Minions disappeared again, either to sleep for the night or report to Kieran's sisters about his progress. "You wanna talk?" She was pretty for a monk, though she didn't have her mouth sewn shut she hadn't said anything, the logic was that conversation impedes concentration, hence the silent part. Personally he thought that it was a load of bull but then again he wasn't a magic caster and she was responsible for reviving him in the event of his death so he really couldn't complain. "Right then, I'll be over there." Kieran went and sat down under the window and entered a state of meditation.

* * *

 **Author's Note** :

Pervy Sage Chuck: Hmm. It'll take a few chapters for them to appear, I at minimum want to get Clementine out of the way first. They have to get through Zesshi first. It sounds like it might be interesting to focus on the Slane Theocracy's giant shit storm for a while.

BMS: Thank you for saying so.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note** : An important announcement, I am in a bad place right now, a very bad place, so I'm not going to be doing much in the way of writing right now. Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 6: Sword of Fire

Demiurge observed the progress on the latest batch of Drakes. Basically, Koriander had taken the unfertilized eggs of the Salamander's favored by the Red Minions, and injected into them sperm extracted from the dragons used in the forge, the end result was heavily armored, flying fire breathing lizards the size of a elephant. Of course Demiurge had not stopped at the Salamander's, after all there was a perfectly good Phoenix living in Battle Rock, the hard part was arranging a scenario that he could somehow combine the genes of the Phoenix and Dragon into a dramatically superior specimen. He wasn't just stopping at gene splicing as well.

"Ah Gnarl, so good to see you." Demiurge exclaimed happily seeing the head minion in question as he walked into the experimental area.

"Why did you take our mounts?" Gnarl asked in a accusatory voice. "It's bad enough that you're using the browns as lab rats!"

"You are aware of our Drake breeding program yes? It is only natural that we begin conducting experiments in enhancing our forces. For instance..." Demiurge led Gnarl over to several cocoons that were hanging from the underground chamber's roof. "These are summoned mid-tier demons, we are feeding them to pregnant spiders, who are infusing their blood into their eggs almost directly. The end result of this process, are mutated spiders with augmented stats."

"I thought we were trying to avoid using evil magic whenever unnecessary?" Gnarl asked stroking his goatee.

"For the ones back on the homeland yes. But we must also think about what we are going to do about the here and the now." One of the spiders went over to one of the struggling cocoon's and clamped down on it with it's pincers draining the fluids from it. "Once we have a understanding about how Demon Blood affects non demonic creatures, we'll have a better idea on how to proceed with the process of augmenting other non demon creatures. For now we're sticking with Arachnid's who have the most malleable forms." Moving on, Demiurge came upon a large patch of earth, one that had the heads of various wolves coming out of the ground like so much cabbage, with actual food mostly meat just out of reach of them. Gnarl recognized the ritual for the production of Inugami in a instant. "Here are the experiments with the undead."

"Demiurge, you Overlord be damned fool." Gnarl snapped angrily.

Simply put, Inugami are dogs which have been starved to the brink of death, decapitated at the last moment, buried under a busy road, and then reanimated as powerful floating disembodied specters with a whole lot of bad attitude.

"When one is raised as an undead, their abilities are enhanced, and because of my lady Koriander's skill's any undead she produces will gain various Talents depending on what kind of undead they became. The question that needs answering then is what happens if a undead such as this is revived as a living breathing organism?" Demiurge explained gesturing to the wolf's who had their heads sticking out of the ground.

"I will have no part in your madness demon." Gnarl turned around to leave but let out a shout on his way out. "Somebody let me know when this fool gets himself killed!"

Demiurge could only shake his head in amusement while he used a message spell to contact his mistress.

"The experiments with the mounts have begun, hopefully we'll induce mutations that are favorable to us." Demiurge stated a smug tone in his voice.

"Excellent work Demiurge." Koriander's disembodied voice replied.

"If I could ask, how is the matter with the Slane Theocracy coming?" Demiurge asked a sadistic look on his face.

"Oh, armies of Elves and Beastmen have descended upon the ruined capital, doubtlessly to crush their enemy while they're down, and some kind of death worshiping cult calling themselves 'Zuranon' have shown up too. So now it's a four way slaughter between our undead, the Slane Theocracy, Beastmen and Elves. Of course the Undead Will win, as long as the bodies keep being flung at them their numbers will never drop." And then, a tremble of anticipation went down Demiurge's spine. "In fact, now that we have some higher quality material's on hand, I'm planning on... liquidating, some of the low tier raw materials."

* * *

Kieran was annoyed. The brown bit of scrap metal around his neck meant that he was limited to a very select few jobs that these people would actually let him do, and he wasn't interested in helping some old lady with her groceries or looking for some lost animal.

"I hate this job." Muttering that Kieran prepared to contact Nazarick, maybe he could get them to send over a Drake or a undead horde or something of the like. Turning around though, he was greeted by the sight of someone that he didn't recognize, a fair skinned man with blonde hair and dressed like a warrior.

"Slim picking's today?" The Blonde asked smiling.

"You could say that." Kieran stated as he prepared to leave.

"Before you go and turn in your plate, we have something that might be of interest to you." Kieran turned around to face the man who had confronted him. The Blonde led Kieran back to a table that had three other people sitting at it, a smug looking blonde ranger, a brown haired mage brat, and another blonde this one much larger. "The loud mouth is Lukrut, the big guy is Dyne, I'm Peter and this is our little magic caster Ninya." The blonde from earlier explained gesturing to each member of his team. "Collectively, we are known as the Swords of Darkness."

"And hello to you lovely miss." Lukrut stated grabbing the hand of Kieran's Monk in the style of a gentleman courting a lady, which to give him credit is what he thought he was doing. "I cannot but help to feel a deep soulful connection. Might I ask your name?"

"Don't bother asking, you're never gonna get anything out of her." Kieran stated rolling his eyes.

"Is she mute?" Ninya asked observing the monk pulling her hand away.

"By choice. She took a oath of silence. So since she isn't going to do it, this is Nabe, and I'm known as Kieran Gown." Kieran stated as he tapped his fingers against the table impatiently.

"It isn't uncommon for people to get discourage their first day out." Peter explained picking up on Kieran's impatience. "People think of this gig as all glory, and it does get better as you go along, but for beginners, the people up stairs only feel safe giving you jobs to get your feet wet."

"You mentioned something I might find interesting." Kieran stated letting out a loud yawn just for the sake of emphasizing his point.

"There is also what we call 'off the books' jobs as well. This city suffers from something of a monster problem. The neighboring Forest of Tob is filled with a variety of unpleasant creatures, while the Katze Plains is plagued by the undead during the night. If we adventurer's go out and kill these creatures and then bring back proof of their deaths to the Adventurer's guild then we'll receive payment from the crown for culling pests." Peter explained a hopeful look on his face. "We were planning on going out to slay some monsters in one of the safer area's, but after hearing about a copper plate who managed to strong arm a bunch of Iron plates the other night we thought we'd call him up." So if Kieran went out and slaughtered some high tier monsters and brought back their heads to this place he would get paid a lot, but that raised a different sort of question.

"That Iron plate around your neck." Kieran stated pointing to the plate around Peter's neck. "How'd you get promoted?"

"Oh this?" Peter asked holding up the pendant in his hand. "We have to achieve a certain number of accomplishments first, then we need to take a test to make sure that we know what we're doing." More tests, very lovely.

"Thank you for the advice, and tagging along on your pest control run sounds like the best idea I've seen all day." As sad as that was. Now that Kieran had a idea of what he was doing he got up to go for the door, however keen instinct born from battle told him he was being looked at and indeed the attendant was directing a young blonde man over to him.

"Ah excuse me, Kieran Gown?" Kieran made a exaggerated sigh, turned around, pulled out the nearest empty chair, and sat down directly in front of the young man. "My name is Nifirea Bareare." Kieran was confused for moment, but while he was meditating last night the Minions had been gathering information in town and a invisible green filled him in.

"The Famous alchemist?" The still invisible Minion nodded it's head in affirmative. "I had heard of you but I didn't know what you looked like." Kieran lied flawlessly.

"That's fair, in any case I was wondering if I could hire you good sir?" Nifrea started while he pulled up a chair on his own. "As a alchemist I have to travel into somewhat dangerous territory in order to procure fresh ingredients, in order to protect myself I usually have to hire a group of adventurer's, but my usual group recently left for another branch of the guild. So, hearing about a new adventurer who had managed to over power a group of Iron plates I decided take a gamble on that person."

"That makes sense, are we going to be passing through the Forest of Tob and Katze plains on this little trip?" Kieran asked cocking a suspicious brow.

"That would be the shortest route, and will take us about three days. But are you sure you want to do that? Those area's are pretty dangerous, especially at night." Nifrea explained looking concerned.

"Since it's my first day on the job, I'd like to get to know the creature's I'll be hunting." Kieran stated shrugging his shoulders. "Besides." Kieran pulled his horn flask from his pocket again, and immediately that got everyone's attention. "I've got this on me so I can take a few risks." Kieran knew exactly why Nifirea had hired him. He gives out a potion to someone looking for a quick buck, she takes it to the top alchemist in the city to get appraised or sell, and now that same alchemist was positively salivating at the sight of his hunting horn. "Oi you okay?" Nifirea jolted out of his stupor and shook himself awake.

"I'm fine I'm fine!" Nifirea stated getting up to go. "Are you going to come?"

"These guys are coming along." Kieran explained gesturing behind him to the four he was conversing with. "Since we're going to be taking a short cut through monster town they can help us carry your ingredients and my monster bits."

"Considering what we were planning on doing that doesn't sound too bad." Peter stated a knowing look on his face.

"I appreciate the extra help, but I only have the one wagon, so we can't carry too much back with us, and the rest of you will have to walk over there." Nifrea stated in a concerned tone of voice.

"Nabe, you got that set up don't you?" To Kieran's question, the monk led the group to the alley way outside of the guild headquarters, and surprised the group by what she showed them. A magic circle carved into the ground. "Last night I had Nabe set up a teleportation type magic circle, I figure that if we set up similar ones where-ever we go we'll be able to fast travel all over the place. If we set up one like it in your wagon, we'll be able to send as many monster parts back here as we want."

"Incredible..." Ninya stated using a hand to examine the magic which had been carved into the ground. "So with this, the extra people traveling shouldn't be a problem."

* * *

Koriander was walking through the woods, humming to herself, and arrived at a mansion like building that had been built in the middle of the woods. This was a decoy Nazarick, it's construction over seen by Gnarl being protected by Aura and now reaching completion thanks to the Minions speedy handiwork. If they did get attacked they could retreat here and then teleport out, the enemy could destroy the building with impunity and think them dead in the process.

"Gnarl, I trust everything is going smoothly?" Koriander asked in a sweet tone of voice.

"The construction of the decoy's exterior is completed, but the inside still needs furbishing." Gnarl explained walking up to Koriander.

"And as for the one time Giant of the East?" Koriander asked smirking knowingly.

Wordlessly, Gnarl brought Koriander to a warehouse like building and opened the front doors. Inside was a pitiful sight. When construction on the Decoy Nazarick began the construction site was invaded by a huge war troll who called himself Guu and his subordinates who insulted Koriander and her subordinates as being weaklings who had dared to cross over into his territory. Naturally, Koriander made use of a simple despair aura spell to subdue him, but instead terrorized him and his subordinates to death. So instead, Koriander used them as experimental material and turned them into mid tier undead known as Death Knights before reviving them. The War Troll and most of the Ogre's successfully made the transition back into living creatures after Koriander Revived them, additionally they managed to keep the skills and talents Koriander imparted them with her magic. The bad news was that her choice of magic had shattered their minds turning them into this deranged state.

"Guhahahu haha!" Just witnessing the sight of Koriander made the Giant formerly known as Guu break down in Agony.

"Well, he was pretty impressive once. Let's have them fuck our trolls and see what happens." Koriander commented as if she was talking about the weather.

"And the Zombie goblins?" Goblins were a distant relative of Minions, but these ones were so low quality that Koriander couldn't even revive them.

"Throw em into the meat grinder." Koriander stated shrugging her shoulders.

"And the other two so called 'Great Monsters of the Forest?'" Gnarl asked making air quotes with his fingers.

"Why we have the perfect envoy to speak with them on our behalf." Koriander stated gesturing to the crying troll off into the warehouse as if it were obvious. "We'll deploy them in the morning, and make our terms clear." As if finished with the matter of the troll, Koriander now focused her attention on the blade that Guu was carrying with him when Koriander killed him. It went from a giant one handed broad sword to a small knife as soon as she picked it up, and in addition was dripping with poison seemingly by magic. "Gnarl, I'm going to be busy for the rest of the night. Ensure that I am not interrupted." With that, Koriander went into the Decoy Nazarick.

* * *

The wagon was being pulled by horses being steered by Nifirea, riding in the back, feet resting atop newly minted magic circle, was the Swords of Darkness plus two recent additions. Kieran had to separate Lukrut and Nabe quite a while ago with a additional explanation that he was being rude to her and disrespectful of her vow of Celibacy which had managed to end his attempts at sexual harassment. Unfortunately now he had a new target.

"So Kieran, I'd imagine that a handsome fellow like you must have women throwing themselves at you back home eh?" Lukrut stated elbowing Kieran in a overly suggestive manner.

"Don't even think about it twig, they'd eat you." Kieran replied in a cold declaration of fact.

"Uh Guys. We have trouble." Indeed, running out of the forest was a group of goblins and ogres with terrified looks on their faces. "I can't drive the horses through them."

"Then it's time to earn some money." Kieran jumped out of the Wagon and started walking towards the incoming Ogres. It was over in a instant, the first Ogre had been cleanly chopped through from his right thigh all the way up to his right shoulder and collapsed in front of Kieran who had his sword drawn and assumed a position to strike. "Oi is that it? I only just pulled my sword out you know?" One of the terrified Ogre's moved to strike at Kieran from the side, and in response Kieran pulled his other sword out, and this one was chopped ass hole to appetite. "Don't tell me that's all that a ogre amounts to is it?"

"A-Amazing." Nifirea could only gawk in awe. Firstly was the potion that came out of his flask earlier, he had learned that the potion was several more times potent then her grandmother's best, at least as powerful as a third tier healing spell. Then was the Adamantite, the strongest crafting material known to humanity, armor. Thirdly was the twin swords wreathed in powerful fire magic that he had just drawn. Last but not least was the draw itself, even though it was just a casual pull of his sword, he did so with enough power and speed that they couldn't even see them, and at the same time angled the strikes so that each of them would hit the maximum number of vital areas as possible, not only that, but those were long swords, two handed weapons, yet he was holding one in each hand. Both his equipment, his skill, and his power were all worthy of the class of Adamantite. "From a copper plate?"

"Come on boys, our Junior's getting ahead of us!" Peter was the first of the five of them to get off the wagon. Even though Kieran had slain two of the ogres the Goblins were still charging, perhaps they thought their chances of survival would increase if they could take the adventurers as hostages. "Dyne slow their Movements!" The largest member of the group put both of his hands on the ground and soon green foliage erupted from the ground and tied up the goblins. "Ninya buff us!" The shortest member of the group muttered some spells and both Lukrut and Peter were covered in several layers of magic. "OOOH!" Peter charged the goblins as they broke free of the vines and expertly avoided their clubs and struck at vital areas. Lukrut had Peter covered landing arrows in the heads of Goblins who tried to strike at him while he was busy with their comrades.

"Well they got that covered. So that just leaves you." Kieran watched as the last ogre made a cry of fear before charging at him. "Oh please." Kieran slashed the ground with his sword, threw hot ash into the air and into the face of the Ogre that had been charging at him. Ultimately, the Ogre skewered himself on the blade of Kieran's sword, who then ripped the weapon out bisecting the beast down the middle. "Alright, lets get out of here." As if a after thought, Kieran slashed through the remaining goblins as he walked by back to the wagon and climbed in the back. The Swords of Darkness used knives to remove the left ears off of the creatures, While Kieran threw the corpses back into the forest after they were done with them, and soon they had a small sack of goblin bits to bring back to the guild.

"Wow... That was amazing swordsmanship Kieran." Nifirea stated dazed.

* * *

The group arrived in a clearing and would begin making camp now. Pitching the tents was a simple matter and now a campfire was getting ready.

"Night should be on us soon, Undead should start appearing any minuet now." Kieran stated getting one of his swords out. "And there's plenty of animals that get extra rowdy when the sun goes down too."

"In that case, we should eat first, then start sleeping in shifts." Peter and the Swords of Darkness on the other hand were sitting out by the fire passing out bowls of bean curd soup. However Kieran heard of rumbling in the distance, and soon took aim with his blade. Emerging from the bushes was a huge beast, a body of silver hair, a long snake like tail, and coal black eyes that burned with intelligence, there could be no doubt about it, the wise King of the Forest.

* * *

 **Review Section** :

Pervy Sage Chuck: Nice one, your review was a bright spot in a bad week.

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	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note** : I am better now. Not all better but I'm okay to start writing again I think. Luckily for all of you I had this mostly done by the time the incident in question started. So Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 7: The Would be Queen of the Goblins

Koriander had two full length mirrors in front of her, in one she observed the movements of a naga, and in another a giant hamster with a long scaly snake like tail. Koriander was torn between which one to go after first. The so called Beast of the South was cuter, but the Snake from the West looked like it would be more useful. Decisions decisions.

"Mistress Koriander." Gnarl stated walking up behind the sorceress in question. "Master Kieran has entered the forest on the guise of a adventurer slaying monsters."

"What part of the forest is he in?" Koriander asked cocking a intrigued brow.

"South." Gnarl replied prompting Koriander to smile.

"Send for the Hamster." The Sorceress stated smirking knowingly.

* * *

"I don't want the house!" The troll formerly known as Guu, formerly the king of the Eastern part of the Forest of Tob, was currently curled up in a corner of the ware house inside of the fortress. "I never wanted the House! Keep the Damn house its your House!" Guu broke down crying once more, trapped in this state of chronic misery. A merciful individual, would promptly seek psychological help for this miserable creature, or failing that, kill him out of his misery. Towards that end, a group of Minions approached him with big smirks plastered all over their faces electrically enchanted pikes in hands. "GYAAOOUUHHH!" Using their makeshift cattle prods the Minions chased the Troll formerly known as Guu out of the warehouse and over a teleportation magic circle outside of the building.

* * *

"So you know about the Building of Ruin I take it?" Ryraryus was a old snake, a Naga to be precise a snake person, the oldest creature in the forest, he came here a long time ago, back when the Dark Elves still ruled the forest, and he's survived a long time against many foes. But none of them have been like this, Guu and his ogres were felled in one swift blow, screaming in sheer terror from whatever manner of black magic that Half Elf used on them, he himself had his heart racing from the weight of her spell and felt the cold grasp of death on his door step. Perhaps even more terrifying then that, was the only other candidate that he had left to form a alliance with to fend off this new threat.

"This one has seen the monument of Ruin." The Giant hamster known as the Wise King of the Forest, also known as the the Beast of the South, replied in a dignified if not slightly high pitched voice. "This one knows of the fall of Guu. This one does not wish to fight against a Being of such power."

"We might not have a choice, in the worst case scenario we may even have to flee from the great forest of Tob." Ryaryus replied crossing his reptile like arms.

"The Dead rule the grass plains and the Humans the cities and villages, where will we go if we cannot stay here?" The Giant Hamster asked sounding concerned.

"I know not." Ryaryus stated in concerned tone of voice. Suddenly a huge magic circle appeared beneath their feet.

"GET AWAY!" At once the Snake and the Hamster jumped out of the way of the magic circle as a geyser of light appeared before them.

"I don't want the House!" Ryaryus looked around and saw to his horror Guu, still wielding his blight blade, but he could sense that he was much more powerful then he was before he had died.

"HYAAAHHHHH!" The Wise King of the Forest suddenly high tailed it away, leaving Ryaryus alone with Guu.

"Well that was unexpected." Koriander stated walking into the clearing. "Sleep." Koriander stated pointing to Guu. "Uuu..." The Troll suddenly collapsed, effectively halting his rampage. "Now than what about you...?" Koriander stated, now noticing that Ryaryus had disappeared from her line of sight. "Greens, if you would." Owing to their own invisibility, the Greens possessed the power to spot other invisible objects or creatures. Thus several of the Minions now cornered the invisible snake. "Reveal yourself or die." Koriander stated in a light tone of voice. Ryaryus made his presence known and disabled his invisibility at the same as the greens her had their blades on his throat.

"I yield to you my Liege! Mercy! Mercy!" Ryaryus begged his slit eyes looking down at the blade at his neck.

"Swear your eternal allegiance and the entirety of your being to me." Koriander responded in turn.

"I SWEAR IT! I SWEAR IT!" Ryaryus continued to beg as the Minions pressed their blades even tighter to his throat.

"Good." Koriander stated prompting the nervous snake to breath a sigh of relief. "Grab him." Panic gripped him once more as browns grabbed hold of him and wrestled him to the ground. "Seeing as how you belong to me now that means I can do whatever I want with you." As Koriander said that, one of the fruits of Demiurge's experiments made it's presence known, a huge heavily mutated demon spider crawled into the clearing.

"NO! YOU SAID YOU'D SPARE ME!" Ryaryus panicked while he struggled to free himself of the Minions.

"Who said that? I never did?" Saying that, the Spider clamped down on Ryaryus's body with it's huge crushing jaws and began injecting it's venom into his body.

"GYAHHAHAHAHA!" The Snake man felt his life draining away as his insides were melted down and then sucked out of his body, in place of the screaming naga was a dried out and desiccated corpse. "Good, now to begin the experiment."

The encounter with Guu was a failure, but a educational one, as they already knew from the Fallen Knights, when a person who Koriander had turned into a undead is revived as a living being they retain the enhancements that Koriander made to their undead selves. What she hadn't counted on was the method of killing, Guu had been frightened to death with a high level fear spell, his mind irreparably shattered in the process and thus failed to retain any sort of usefulness into his second life. What was needed now was a method of mass execution that would retain it's usefulness after being revived. Not only retain, but enhance upon their usefulness. As a result of his experiments Demiurge had produced half demon spiders, whose venom had potent demonic power mixed in as well, Undead were creatures that were healed and enhanced by poisons, in other words, if while a undead they receive further enhancements from absorbing the demonic venom, would those enhancements carry over once they were revived as a living being. That was the question they wanted answered here.

"Create Undead: Jack The Ripper!"

A mid tier legendary undead, modeled after a unique form that a serial took after his execution, which required the body of a being with a high agility stat as the raw material, in other words a rogue. Ryaryus's body twitched to life as the mumified corpse assumed a standing position, a black echor covered his entire being as his body twisted and mutated before Koriander. A long trench coat covered his body, long scythe like blades sprouted from his finger tips, a white mask with a wig of black hair took up residence on his head, and his muscles were wrapped in knots like a flexible rope, that long dried out snake like tail now had spiky vertebra sticking out of them. Koriander waited for a moment, until she was certain that the demonic venom which had saturated his inside had disseminated throughout his body, and soon she had a sign that the desired results were achieved. Several spikes emerged from throughout the body of the former snake man, and his muscles bulged with a sudden increase in size, growing to a much larger size.

"Excellent, the infusion of demonic power appears to have work like a charm. Now, before I revive you, you shall be brought back to my lab, wouldn't want my test subject getting smart now would I?" At once the body of the being formerly known as Ryaryus disappeared in the light of a teleportation magic circle, that just left the matter of Guu and the so called Wise King of the forest. "Fear." Speaking that, Guu snapped awake screaming. "Kneel." Fearfully the Troll bent over on all fours before Koriander.

"I don't want the house! Keep the damn house! It's your house!" Guu wailed pathetically.

"Catch the Wise King of the Forest for me, and you will never have to go back to the house again." Koriander stated like a mother talking to a child.

With that, Guu took off in the direction that the Hamster had run away in.

* * *

The Wise king of the Forest he may be, but right now he was terrified, running on all fours as quickly and as fast as possible in the interest of pure, unadulterated survival. Then who else should he run into this day, other than more outsiders, he didn't have time to think, and so instead simply struck launching his tail forward to strike at the most powerful one present. That black armored warrior grabbed hold of the tail, yanked over the Hamster in one motion and flipped him onto his back, before slamming his fist into the gut of the Hamster with one strike hard enough to make the Hamster puke out it's insides.

"Well that was disappointing." Kieran got out his sword and prepared to hack off a chunk of the giant rodent's flesh but eventually noticed the faces of his lunch mates staring at him. "Yes? Is there a problem?" Kieran asked somewhat annoyed that his companions had suddenly turned into fly catchers.

"That's the Wise King of the forest! You just wrecked the Wise King of the Forest!" Nifirea exclaimed his hands on his head.

"Thank you for pointing that out." Kieran stated before he resumed with selecting a portion of flesh, he thought about taking the tail, but people might simply assume that it was snake instead of a hamster with a snake tail.

"You can't kill that!" Nifirea stated realizing that his earlier declaration hadn't gotten his point across.

"Why not?" Kieran asked cocking a brow in spite of the fact that no one could actually see it.

"That's the Wise King of the Forest! The protector of Carne Village! If you kill it then the village will be left unprotected!" Nifirea squealed his features obscured by the immense fear he had right now.

"For Ainz sake." Muttering that, Kieran got out the rest of his flask and dumped the contents into the Hamster's mouth. The Beast made a odd twitching noise as his insides returned from being so much ground hamburger before eventually stirring to consciousness, snapping to it once Kieran stomped down on that reptile like tail crushing it beneath his feet.

"KYAAHAHAHAHA!" The Hamster squealed in pain, it's beady black eyes focusing on the tip of the blade that aimed to stab him in his face.

"Now what, am I suppose to do with you!?" Kieran threatened, his body radiating some kind of black aura as he glared with killing intent down at the rodent to the point that... "Ugh. He mess himself!" Kieran took his boot off of the hamster's tail and shook off the unpleasant substance that had appeared there just a moment ago. In that moment the hamster assumed a more appropriate position.

"I surrender to you my liege!" The Hamster stated prostrating on the ground it's body as flat as possible.

"Lovely, I've got a hamster for a subordinate." Kieran stated in a displeased tone of voice.

Then the ground started shaking, the Hamster rolled into ball and hid behind Kieran's legs as a huge troll lumbered out of the woods and slammed down a blade dripping with a green poison on top of Kieran's head.

"It's not my house it's her House! Her House!" Kieran caught the over head chop with one of his blades, using both arms to support it's weight. Kieran drew one arm back and let the opponent's blade slide off and let it hit the ground, before using the opening to chop the troll's head off with one smooth motion, causing it to sail through the air.

"Again, that was disappointing." Kieran stated as he caught the severed head of the troll. "So what do you think we'll get for this?"

"That's the Giant from the East!" Nifirea exclaimed his face twisted in shock.

"I'll take that as a yes." Kieran chopped off the ear with his sword and threw it into the wagon.

"What happened to it?" Ninya asked looking at the severed head on the ground. "It was crazed, and it kept rambling on about someone's house."

"Oi Hamster." Kieran snapped poking the Hamster in it's posterior with his blade. "Do you know anything about what happened to this thing?" The hamster rapidly shook it's head back and forth.

"A magic caster has taken over the forest, all who dwell within are prey to her whims! A single wave of her hand and the giant and all who swear fealty to him died." Kieran could only roll his eyes. Of course Kori was up to something.

"We should fall back to E-Rantel, warn the others about what is going on." Nifirea stated causing some of the others to nod as well.

"We need to stay and fight." Kieran stated prompting the others to look at him.

"What!? No the city is at risk and..."

"The city will be fine, it's built like a fortress, a few dozen ogres and goblins armed with sticks aren't enough to knock it's walls down. The villages in Katze on the other hands are about to be faced with a large wave of rattled and scared monsters that if they wish to survive the onslaught, then their numbers will have to be reduced or the threat they present must be neutered." Kieran stated prompting those around him to nod their heads in agreement. In spite of the numerous draft orders floating around those villagers were not trained soldiers, they would not stand a chance against a army of monsters. "Oi hamster, they called you the king of the forest right?" The Hamster who was called king nodded his head. "Good, time to go address your subjects."

* * *

Koriander secured her undead serpent in his cell and cast the revive spell, transforming the serpent into the being once again known as Ryaryus. But changed, larger, more muscle, and the addition of sharp bone spikes.

"Hmm. Minor loss in experience points, but over all stats has sharply risen. A resounding success I'd say." Koriander stated in a tone of voice a chef might use when talking about a successful Souffle.

"What is this place?" The snake man asked looking around and trying to reconcile what he was seeing with what he could remember. "What happened?"

"Hand him over to Cocytus in Battle rock, I want to know where he stands in terms of ranking." Koriander stated to a group of Minions off to her side.

"Wait! What did you... AAHHH!" The Snake man was suddenly cut off as one of the minions sent his cage hurtling off to Battle Rock.

"Now than, how is Guu doing acquiring our latest test subject?" Koriander asked looking to the mirror, and was disappointed to find that her brother had set up camp around the corpse of the war troll. "Hmm. Unfortunate, but also unavoidable." Koriander stated watching as the group got ready to leave. "After they're gone bring Guu back here, I must punish him thoroughly for his failure." Koriander stated as she returned to her mirror to eye the Hamster with hungry eyes.

* * *

There was a huge hoard of goblins on the Horizon approaching Carne village, doubtlessly, against a unarmed and unprotected village they would wiped out all in their path without batting a eye. But a unarmed and unprotected village this was not. To Nifirea's shock he saw even from a distance that sturdy stone walls had been built around Carne village, and the goblins looked like they were already there, why they were red and carrying magicians staffs he had no idea but they were standing on the walls. Perhaps it was the presence of their oddly colored fellows that prompted the goblins and ogres to begin migrating over to this particular area.

"Goblins and Ogres?" Enri asked looking concerned at the incoming horde, not as concerned as she was that the reds had their magic staffs trained on their distant relatives that were migrating over their way. "Hold your fire!" Enri stated waving the Minions. "These are your people you just can't shoot at them!" Since the death of the town's previous mayor, Koriander had effectively gang pressed her 'new best friend' into the position of mayor. As such, in absence of Koriander, her siblings or one of their subordinates from Nazarick, Enri was the defacto person in command of the minions at the village. Thus when she said to stand down, they stood down. Enri saw the looks on the goblins and Ogre's faces, it was quite familiar too, the look of mind numbing fear. This might take some work. "You three, help me get a side of beef ready!" Enri ordered to a group of browns who at once went to work getting a chunk of meat suspended between two spites ready to go who promptly carried it into the field in front of the incoming group. "We have lots of food to spare for those who are willing to work hard for it, there's no reason to have to fight for it." Enri waved to the reds with her hand, therefore one took aim and made a crater in front of the incoming group spooking the already scared monsters. "That said, we have been attacked once already, and we have no intention of being attacked a second time. If violence is unavoidable we are prepared for it." The various monsters looked to each other confused a couple of times. Finally one of the Ogre's picked up the meat and began sharing with the others, they must have liked it, as they threw down their clubs and crude blades in a act of submission to Enri.

"Enri?" Nifirea asked to one in general, what exactly happened to the timid farm girl who ran away from the forest that one time that he took her ingredient hunting.

"Well this mess has been cleaned up nicely." Kieran stated bluntly.

"What happened? Has the village been taken over by those goblins?" Nifirea asked looking scared.

"If you're concerned then go down there and ask them." Kieran stated directing the group's attention to the village.

"What? No we can't just..."

"Does your girl friend look like she's acting under duress?" Kieran asked prompting Nifirea to think about the situation and recalled that it seemed to be the Goblins that were taking orders from Enri.

"No." Nifirea stated still sounding confused.

"Then go down, and ask her what is going on!"

* * *

 **Review Section** :

Pervy Sage Chuck: Thank you, I mean that, the loss of a loved one is never a easy thing to get pass. But a Sympathetic ear with a witty retort does help.

Helkil: Dude, I can do one better then that because I wrote stories like that before on my profile.


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note** : I am better, or at least I'm getting better. While I can say for certain that the one I lost was one of the most important individuals to have ever existed for me perhaps nothing will be able to fill that void, it's because she knew that I love her so much that I'm able to move on, for her if no one else. So with that, Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy!

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Chapter 8: The Way of a Noble

Koriander had retreated to her room within Nazarick, where she was currently in the process of receiving a report from Carne Village delivered by Gnarl.

"With the presence of the goblins from the forest of Tob, you personally entering the village for the near future is ill advised. Assuming that is you wish to maintain your image of a benevolent ruler." Gnarl explained reading the details from a length of paper attached to a clipboard. "Aside from that, the magics used to augment the quality of the feed is also fully on schedule, and we should be receiving our first shipment of life force from that place within the next few months."

"Hmm. I see." Koriander stated, nodding as she crossed one bath robe leg over the other. "If that is all then I'll have to ask you to leave us be for a while, as I have to collect some life force via alternative means." Having said that, Gnarl reluctantly left the room. "Now where was I?" The reason for this reluctance, one could assume, was what Koriander was currently sitting on, for it was neither her bed nor a chair but rather the succubus Albedo, who had been flipped upside down with her arms spread like a chair, her legs bent so that her ass could be used as a seat, and her ankles chained to the ceiling while her knees were chained to to her nipple rings, suffice to say, she was in no small amount of pain right now, but the look on her face that was both gagged and blindfolded was one of complete joy. "Did you hear that? It will be some time before that Village will be ready with it's first tribute." Koriander stated as disrobed herself. "So in the mean time, horny little sluts like yourself will just have to make do." Koriander stated rubbing the abnormal bulge that was Albedo's stomach. By the way, no, Albedo was not pregnant, yet one could say that she still carried life within her. "Now than, back to work." Koriander stated readying the 'wand' that was between her legs, the prosthetic she created in order to convert her feminine magical power into a much more appetizing to a succubus masculine power. "What do you think? Will that be enough for now? Or should I put a few more in?" Koriander asked as she held up a small jewel like object in her hand. "I think I will actually, there looks like there's a little more room in there after all." Saying that Koriander pushed the jewel inside of the ass hole of Albedo, and shortly there after, took something that resembled a wine stopper, and shoved it in as well. As if a circuit had been completed, the magic symbols on the stopper interacted with the magic symbols that had been carved into the Succubus's pasty white flesh, as if to say that it wouldn't be removed any time soon. "Now than, down to business." Koriander moved around to Albedo's front where she squeezed herself in between the demons legs, lined her 'wand' up, and slammed it in head long into the demon.

"GYAAHHAHAHAHAAAAAA~!" Albedo shrieked, agony and pleasure mixing together in equal measures as her brain that already had most of her blood rushed into it started to go numb. Her stomach which had been stuffed until it bulged rippled and slowly expanded, which only seemed to contribute to the intense agony that the demon was going through while Koriander continued to ram her. Finally, once Albedo looked like she was on the verge of giving birth, Koriander decided to stop. The half elf in question walked over to a lever that was coming out of the wall and pulled it down, dropping Albedo flat on her stomach.

"What's the matter, too tired to get them out by yourself?" Simply concluding that there was nothing for it, Koriander removed the stopper, and then stomped on the back of the Succubus. "HYAAHAHAHAAA~!" And immediately, a collection of beetles colored brown, blue, red and green started to spew out of the Succubus's ass hole, nearly causing the demon to pass out in the process. "Seriously? Didn't I tell you to work on your stamina?" Saying that, Koriander kicked the succubus over, bent down and hooked each of the rings of the Succubus's tits into one of the two holes in her ball gag in her mouth, and held her nose close, forcing her to suck on her own tits. Koriander had taken the liberty of heavily modifying the Succubus's breasts, binding powerful healing and stamina restoring spells directly into the creamy white liquid through the use of tattoo's. Thus, when someone drank that creamy white stuff, their body was instantly healed and their stamina fully restored. "Honestly, I need this more than you do." Saying that, Koriander used the succubus as a pillow as she took one of Albedo's tits out of her mouth and began sucking on it.

" _I'm the one who's being worked like a dog down here._ " Indeed, Koriander had been conducting experiments with necromancy and reanimation for several days straight, had been mass producing potions, scrolls and magic tools for Balloma to sell in the nearby kingdoms and to support their troops, and had to go out and collect most of the raw materials for her work by herself. Taking a day off wasn't too much to ask, that said, even her day off was still filled with work, as she found herself busily producing these beetles that fed off of the magical energy she and Albedo were producing so that they might be slaughtered for their life force. Fortunately though Albedo was a succubus, who converted male essence, such as what Koriander was artificially producing, into huge amounts of magical power, so the process was still somewhat enjoyable.

"Huu. No days off for people trying to build a empire I guess." Saying that, Koriander got to her feet and went for the lever once more grabbing holding of it and moving it back into it's previous position.

"MUUU UUU~!" Albedo moaned pleasantly as her fully recovered body moved back to it's previous position.

"What you thought that it was over after just this much?" Koriander stated as she used control magic to order the insects into a hole that led directly to the minion hives to be slaughtered. "We aren't even close to meeting our quota." Koriander explained pointing to the quarter of the room that had been piled all the way up to the ceiling with similar jewel like eggs as the ones that had hatched inside of Albedo's body.

* * *

After the group arrived at the village they were immediately let on through, thanks to Kieran's presence that is. Nifirea's confusion for this turn of events lasted only for moment though.

"Mr. Black Knight! You came back!" Enri looked like she was in the middle of explaining how to work a plow to the Ogres when she saw Nifirea's group entering the village.

"'Mr. Black Knight?'" Nifirea asked looking to Kieran.

"I stopped by here on my way over to E-Rantle." Kieran stated shrugging his shoulders. "Had I known that my sister's goblins were living here now I wouldn't have been concerned about this forest rift raft causing trouble." Kieran stated gesturing to the Ogre in question.

"In that case then shouldn't we go back to E-Rantle to cut off the ones going that way?" Peter asked causing the others to nod their heads.

"You can send a warning if you want, but the city has walls and archers protecting it, the ogres and goblins have wooden sticks." There was no doubt in Kieran's mind on who would win that confrontation, together with the weakness of the creatures in question and the fact that Koriander had already culled their numbers was the main reasons why he hadn't jumped back to the city himself.

"In that case, I'll go and deliver a warning to the town guards about the ogres." Peter stated as he climbed onto the back of the wagon. "Nabe if you wouldn't mind?"

A activation type magic circle appeared from Nabe's hand and the circle carved into the floor of the wagon glowed before it punted Peter off else where. What Nifirea noticed most about the magic just now was not it's effect on Peter but rather the effect it had on the villagers. Namely, they were completely non-plussed, as if such a sight was normal to them, then again given the thick stone wall that could fend off a army, the little multicolored creatures running around that gave off the impression of a army of professional soldiers, and who knows what else had popped up since last he was here, maybe it was.

"Um. I'm going to go see how some friends of mine are doing." Nifirea stated walking away.

Like wise, Kieran spotted the familiar form of a tanned young lady who was busy scribbling down notes on a clipboard like thing with a extinguished candle on top.

"Wait here for me to get back." Kieran ordered prompting the others to look at him strangely as he walked towards the young woman with a noble like atmosphere about her.

"Oi you think that's Kieran's lady love?" Lukrut asked while he drooled lecherously in the direction of the woman Kieran had gone to talk to.

"She does have the look of a foreigner about her, and she's got the same kind of tats on her arms as Kieran has on his face." Nina explained while making note of the familiar spiral design on the woman's arms. "At the very least, I think that they know each other."

* * *

"I was wondering what you were up to." Kieran stated as Balloma briefly looked up from her clipboard. "Lately it feels like me and Kori are the only ones getting any work done."

"And what work have you been doing Mr. Copper plate Adventurer hmm? Exterminating Goblins and Ogres? Picking flowers for second rate Alchemists?" Balloma asked cocking a brow knowingly. "I on the other hand, have spent the past couple of days reviewing the entirety of the expenses produced by this village, comparing it to it's previous output, current output..." It was at that moment that Balloma noticed the Ogres who were being escorted to the fields by the Villagers. "... and now it would seem I must do those calculations over again." Saying that, Balloma tore out a section of her notes and held it out to one of the reds, who quickly incinerated the parchment. "Taking stock of the inventory produced by Koriander's department, making contacts with the Merchant's guild within the kingdoms and I'm in the midst of negotiating a meeting with a influential royal within the capital. Koriander, as the one I have to thank for a fraction of those achievements I will grant has also been working hard. Though I received a notice earlier that she was taking the day off." Now Balloma pointed the tail end of her fountain pen towards Kieran accusingly. "But that just leaves you, who have accomplished nothing to further our agenda, unless of course you have anything to counter my statements." As if waiting for a answer Balloma readied her pen to jot down notes on her clip board.

"See that kid over there?" Kieran asked pointing to Nifirea who had confronted Enri about something and was now being led away by her. "He's got a talent that lets him use any magic item, and he's suppose to be the grandson of the best alchemist in the kingdom. Koriander can produce any magic item she can think of. What do you think that combination can do?" As if expressing her opinion on that, Balloma scribbled something down before turning back to Kieran cocking a expecting brow. "Those guys over there know where to find all of the top monsters in the area and are in the know about all the legendary weapons in the area, after they've built up a sense of comradely with me I'll get them to tell me about them."

"So then they know how to make these things do they? Or do they know where we can find them." Kieran's silence was all the answer she needed. "Become someone the royalty of the land will make note of, then come back and tell me you've been working hard. Now if you excuse me, I have to talk to a mayoress about some Ogres."

* * *

Enri had led Nifirea to a field where a variety of different plants were being grown, gone were vast swaths of wheat which had been the village's mainstay. Now there were a variety of plants that Nifirea recognized in his capacity as a alchemist, ranging from mushrooms, herbs, fruit bearing bushes, root vegetables and ones that he didn't recognize either.

"Alchemy ingredients?" Nifirea stated his jaw dropped open. Not only plants, but there were bee hives, as well as sheep, cows, pigs and Chickens where there weren't any before.

"Lady Koriander has magic which can rapidly rot away food byproducts and turn them into rich soil which she then sinks into the ground to make plants grow healthier and faster then before." Enri stated prompting Nifirea to drop his jaw shocked.

"Really?" The young alchemist asked unable to shake off his feeling of shock.

"Indeed. Not only that but we've been given a large number of cattle to work with too. Since our reduction in population we don't need as much of the fields any more so we've agreed to give her control over those as well." Enri explained her voice turning slightly sad.

"'Reduction in population?'" Indeed, there were far fewer humans here then the last time he had come here to visit, which made him think that something had happened to cause this reduction in population. "What happened here Enri?"

"About a week ago, a group of knights came here and killed a large number of our people, including my parents." That shocking statement filled Nifirea with rage and Enri with dread. "We're only alive now because that knight and his sister were passing through this small village on their way by."

"Oh my gosh I'm so Sor..." Nifirea reached his hand out to comfort Enri, but suddenly she snapped to attention like the depressed person from earlier was just a lie.

"But I can't let that get to me!" Enri declared with tears in her eyes. "I have my sister and everyone else counting on me to do a good job!"

"I know you'll do good." Nifirea stated forcing a smile having just been viciously smacked down. A matter of more personal concern to Nifirea though was this admiration that Enri seemed to have developed for Kieran, as a fellow male competing for her attention this was a problem for him. "Is that woman Kieran was talking to earlier his sister?"

"As I understand it, she is but not the same sister who helped to protect this village earlier." Enri began scratching the side of her head as she thought about the situation. "Rather then a sorceress or a warrior, she strikes me more as a merchant or Noble woman."

"Enri." A calculating voice suddenly appeared behind her, and the two turned around to see Balloma standing in front of them. "We need to discuss housing and supplies for the Ogres and new goblins."

"Right, just let me say bye to my friend first." Enri replied in a energetic tone of voice.

"Bring him along, this won't take long." Balloma stated as she turned around to walk into the village.

"Right." Received with a unexpected reply, Enri grabbed Nifirea and dragged him along as she followed Balloma. "Building above ground means knocking down one of the walls to expand the village proper, doing so would be a waste of the time and resources spent on that wall already. Instead it would be cheaper and faster to expand underground, in other words a basement. The store house next to your residence and the stables would be the most ideal location, because those buildings are so large we'll need to acquire lumber suitable for support beams." Balloma explained as she quickly jotted down blue prints for the expansion in question in her clipboard. "Large creatures with sharp teeth require a large protein intake, since we can't expect the farm animals to reach a suitable size for some time yet, we'll have to ask for meat when we go into the city to trade supplies. Get a idea on how much food the Ogres consume in the run of a day after they're done in the field."

"Understood." Enri stated her tone of voice someone who had just been handed marching orders by her taskmaster.

"Good. You can go, but you on the other hand I would have words with." Saying that, Enri ran off into the village leaving behind a confused Nifirea. "So you're the alchemist my brother got to look at our potion for us. Cute. How much is it worth?" Balloma asked prompting Nifirea to become confused for a moment, but just a moment. Instead of going to get it appraised himself, knowing that they knew he knew where to get more, Kieran got a third party to do it for them, skipping out on the need to negotiate and risk being undersold in the process. "I said ' **how much is it worth?** '" A empty look entered Nifirea's eyes.

"Eight Gold Coins. It's equal to third tier healing magic." Nifirea stated in a hollow tone of voice. Not a inconsiderable amount of coin around these parts, as Balloma has learned from studying the local economy.

"' **And how much are you willing to pay for it?** '" Balloma asked making note of the value of Koriander's potion with her pen.

"The last offer we made was for forty gold coins." Nifirea replied in a equally hollow tone of voice as before. So they intend to reverse engineer their potion.

"Understand something boy!" Nifirea suddenly snapped to attention as if being addressed by a higher power. "We are not interesting in giving away our secrets. If you and your grandmother wants what's ours then both of you work for me!" Balloma stated in a voice that hid no small measure of contempt for Nifirea, one that looked down on him from a impossible height.

"Enri thought that you carry yourself like a merchant or a noble woman, I'm beginning to think it's the latter, you certainly seem to think poorly of lesser people." Nifirea stated making his displeasure known.

"How I think about you is not your concern, nor for that matter is how you think about me my concern. People require two things in order ensure that they are productive in their workings, happiness and health. That is my concern as the manager of this village. And as for my status as a noble woman, do not lob me in the same category as the ones you are use to dealing with. My family are the descendants of a god, what can you say about their's?" Balloma stated, more concerned with the contents of her clipboard than actually having a conversation with Nifirea.

"A god?" Her choice of words left the young alchemist confused. "Which one?"

"Forty years ago he broke into the Abyss and slaughtered the Forgotten One and claimed his power for his own. Someone who hasn't kept up to date with the divine wouldn't know about him." Balloma explained which caused, Nifirea to roll his eyes.

"Really, I think I would know about something like a gate to the divine realm opening up." Nifirea stated in a sarcastic tone of voice.

"Why are you concerned with the divine realm when you haven't even explored all of your own continent yet, let alone the rest of the world?" Balloma stated as she walked away.

"The rest of the world?" Nifirea asked sounding confused.

"Huu. I've got no patience to teach geography to a child." Saying that, Balloma once again went to work.

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 **Author's Note** :

Helkil: Calm down now. Calm down.

Pervy Sage Chuck: I am better now. I've taken the steps I've needed to heal and move on. It's nice to know that you can find nice people on the internet.


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note** : Happy Easter Weekend! Read, Review Favorite and Enjoy!

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Chapter 9: The Land of the Dead

Demiurge was sitting in front of a section of skin like tissue that was acting as a wall, and observed as something within started to put pressure on it, as if trying to break out. Suddenly, as if hatching, a humanoid creature emerged from the material. It was completely hairless, like a newborn, but unlike a newborn, it was completely hideous, a oversize nose on a slender face with massive ears to boot on extremely dark skin, but there were patches scaly skin all over his body, all wrapped up in a five foot tall package densely packed with muscle tissue. Several minions went about helping the gasping for air creature stand up and led it down a hallway into a armory. This was one of the prototype hybrid soldiers that Demiurge had proposed earlier on, through hybridization of Elf, Dwarf and Dragonkin traits it is his hope to produce something that he estimates possessed strength thirty times that of a normal human, fifteen times that of the Shining justice's elf warriors. This was one of the first prototypes, the process would need refinement in the months to come, injection dragon stem cells into the womb envitro was viable on the prototype level, but the matter of real concern was splicing together the dwelf/elf dwarf hybrid genes and dragon genes, no more lopsided distribution of cells resulting in unpredictable and awkwardly uncoordinated muscle mass.

"Delays. Delays. Delays." Demiurge felt dissatisfied with his lack of progress.

The longer it took them to build this army, the longer it would be before they could chase the Shining Justice and their gold plague out of their homelands. As one of the guardians of the Overlord of Evil he and the others naturally wanted to hunt these abominations down and exterminate them like the blighted creatures they were. Koriander however took the liberty of demonstrating the effects of the golden, Albedo's feathered wings were proof of that, a brief hold over from when Koriander accidentally spread the golden plague to her and turned her into a angel, at best they could only turn her into a fallen succubus hybrid. Thus in order to avoid that same fate, they needed to produce warriors that would not fall to the influence of the Golden. Not that he would be able to continue his experiments for a while, dragons mating cycle was every couple of months, and they already used up their last dose of dragon sperm on producing drakes, which were unfortunately infertile.

"There's still the matter of the phoenix too." Demiurge stated as he folded his hands together. Thus far he had yet to succeed in fusing together the Phoenix and dragon into a superior life form, which in turn could be used to manufacture a more powerful soldier for the war with the golden. "Not to mention, this 'Slane Theocracy.'"

That country of religious lunatics was destroyed, but not beaten, it's people were flooding out of the country and taking refuge around the continent, stronger now that the ingrates had been enhanced by his mistress's magic. As a group of beings that had deluded themselves into thinking that humans were the most superior form of life on the continent, only their existence he could and would not tolerate.

"Hmm. I wonder if my mistress would mind if I have some fun with her undead?" Demiurge asked no one in particular as he pulled up a seeing stone, commonly used to control a large number of undead.

* * *

The Slane Theocracy was in a ruined stated, a massive amount of their population had been turned into undead, and they couldn't be brought back to life, and thanks to all of the necromantic energies in the air whenever they did put down the undead they would just come back to 'life', either as some manner of mangled undead variant, or as a fusion of several undead into a larger specimen. The buildings were also ruined, four giant undead ripping apart the country was a big part of that, and the prided artifacts of the six great gods were trapped beneath the rubble, and it was too dangerous to dig them out with all the undead around. Not to mention, it was also too dangerous to try to evacuate the citizenry with the demi-human army flooding the country. For the captain of the black Scripture, the most elite unit within the Slane Theocracy, he was in a rather nasty bind. The captain slicked his hair back as he looked at the hoard of the beast men, he saw Buri Un Ogres, Vah Un Ogres, Naga Raja Snake men, Spriggans, Orthrous Spinx and the Sheep like Magelos. On the other side of the city, reports were coming in that the elves had launched their own attack on the country, they were of significantly less concern on the surface, but each of those elves were a relative of the Elf King, father to Zesshi the secret weapon of the Slane Theocracy, these undead had a bad habit of dramatically increasing or drawing one's stats when they rose more of their kind, if they awoke the power of the Elf King that dwelt in their bodies, then it meant that they would become a huge threat.

"Zesshi." The Captain asked looking to his side at the black and white haired half elf leisurely lounging about with her oversize war scythe. "What do you make of this situation?"

"Me? I'm just waiting right now." Zesshi replied in her usual non-chalant don't give a damn attitude.

"For what?" The Captain asked cocking a brow suspiciously.

"Take a look down there." Zesshi pointed to the streets below.

Currently the undead were organized into packs, Buri Un, Vah Un, Naga Raja, Human and Magelos Elder liches were leading squads of Buri Un, Vah Un, Orthrous, Human and Spriggan Death knights, Raja Naga and Human Rippers, Orthrous and Human/horse Dullahans, there was no such thing as low tier undead in this country any longer.

"What happened to all the Skeletons and Zombies?" Was the conclusion the Captain reached after observing the hoards of undead going through the city. Indeed, most of the people killed during the assault by those Giant undead were simple civilians with no magical or military training, not even strong enough to survive a Resurrection. With that in mind, the human low tier undead should outnumber the higher tier human undead at least fifty to one. And yet they were no where in sight.

"They're closing Ranks." Zesshi stated a smirk on her face. "They can't maintain massive army of undead, so instead they're going with what they can maintain by disposing of useless garbage."

"That's troubling, we should try and find a way to evacuate the civilians as soon as possible." The Captain stated closing his eyes and scratching at his chin with his hand.

"There's more though." Looking up from his musings the Captain cocked a suspicious look to Zesshi. "There is such thing as composite undead, formed from combining the bodies of numerous smaller undead together into one being, so perhaps they're doing that." The truth that Zesshi had come to terrified the Captain as his eyes went wide with shock. "Maybe we'll see one of those giant undead again soon." Zesshi smirked as the thought entered her mind.

"Let's not find out, but if another of those super undead are going to appear soon, then we should use it as a distraction to evacuate the populous."

Indeed, the appearance of a being of mighty power would be enough to keep the Demi human army busy long enough to escape. Of course the Captain had one such being that he could count on. In fact she was sitting right across from him having a conversation with him. However he could not use Zesshi. During the first attack Kaire was turned into a Elder Lich, and her World tier Item Downfall of Castle and Country with perfect mind control power was integrated into her body. If that perfect mind control power which could even take control of a monstrous Undead like that was turned on Zesshi humanities greatest protector, it would well and truly mean the down fall of the kingdom of Man.

"I'm going to stay behind for a while." Zesshi stated a smirk on her face. "If something of that power does show up, then we should endeavor to put it down shouldn't we no?"

"Battle Crazed lunatic." The captain muttered in displeasure. "Do whatever you like, the part of the theocracy where the Elves are gathering is likely the area of least resistance. Come over there once you are done playing around."

* * *

The Demi-humans were clashing against their kin who had been turned against them, The Buri Un Ogres with their natural affinity for Earth magics were summoning large golems to aid in the fight, the Vah Un Ogres with their water magic were creating Aquatic Serpents to slash through the enemy, the Raja Naga were using magical bombardment as they nimbly weaved through the enemies strikes, only the Orthrous were actively engaging in close quarters combat. But the most important members of the battle were the Magelos, who were using revival magics on the enemy restoring them to leaving breathing specimens, and then using transport magic to send them away. This army had come with intent to conquer, but through these battles they realized that they were growing in power, not only gaining XP from constantly clashing with the enemy, but also the enhancements they received from being turned into undead by the enemies magics and then revived. However that only worked once, twice if brought back as different kind of undead, and further revivals would only result in a continuous loss of XP. In other words, once enhanced, they needed to be taken off the front lines until they could fully recover. Conquering this nation of the dead, was a fools dream, but for those who sought power, it had become like a paradise.

Suddenly, something like a embodiment of power had dropped in front of the group. At first they thought it might be some kind of super undead, they saw the silhouette of something massive through the smoke. A single swing of a scythe cleared the dust cloud away and it was replaced by the Lithe form of a Half elf hefting a massive war scythe.

"What the...?" Both Demi Humans and undead looked confused by the appearance of the new individual, safely confirming that neither party were associated with the new player.

"Ah good a elder lich." Zesshi stated smiling happily. "That means I won't need the rest of you." With a single swing of her scythe, Zesshi cleaved away both the demi humans and the other undead aside from the Elder lich leader.

"You're not very smart are you little girl?" All she had done was provide him with more bodies to resurrect, and with a single wave of a bony hand most of the bodies present were turned into Elder lichs, they in turn raised more of the Undead to fight for them. Zesshi only smiled as with a single wave of her scythe all of the newly raised undead mages were bisected once more.

"Well come on then, bring them back to life." Zesshi stated a eager look on her face. The Elder lich wasn't that stupid, he only had a limited number of times that he could raise undead, and then he would be defenseless against Zesshi, not that he wasn't already defenseless anyway, anything he could raise would be instantly cut down by Zesshi, as it had been already a few times now.

"What do you want?" And yet, in spite of the sweeping strikes that killed enemy and ally alike Zesshi hadn't hit him even once.

"Take me to your leader." Zesshi stated the look on her face that of someone who finally got to say a particular line that they had been hoping an occasion for.

* * *

There were three factions of undead in the country working together, the first was the undead spawned from the beasts that suddenly appeared within the city, the second was Zuranon, a cult who worshiped the last of six gods, God of Death Suranon, and the third was under the control of a unknown force, spawned from the Dark Child that was briefly put under Kaire's control before it killed her. Zesshi right now was being brought before the leaders of these factions. The former council chambers of the six scriptures was one of the best kept buildings in the entire country, of course that largely had to do with the fact that the undead had use for it as a meeting place between the three leaders.

"So you are the ace of the Slane Theocracy?" One of the Undead asked, from the looks of things he looked to be the weakest of the three, based on the amount of power coming off of one of the others and the fact that a third was wearing Downfall of Castle and Country, in other words she was most likely Kaire. "I really must thank you for playing such a vital roll in the creation of this, Undead Paradise."

"Your welcome. Now I believe that you are in the middle of trying to build another giant undead like the ones that attacked our home and native land in the first place. Please take me to it." Zesshi stated in perhaps a little too eager tone of voice.

"You are in no place to make demands of us child." The weakest of the three undead, likely the leader of Zuranon, snapped pointing a bony finger accusingly towards Zesshi. "Use the world tier item on her, she has no defense against it!" Thusly, the undead formerly known as Kaire stood up and aimed her hand palm up towards Zesshi, the golden pattern on her dress lighting up and hit Zesshi with a beam of light. Soon after, the light had died down, and Zesshi stood unmoving in the meeting hall. "Perfect, once we transform her into one of us, the Undead will secure our rightful place once and for all as..." Zesshi threw her scythe through the air and eliminated the two undead that were not Kaire.

* * *

Demiurge was admittedly caught by surprise by Zesshi's actions, as he understood it the item that Kaire was wearing was a world tier item, based on it's ability to take over the minds of the undead, so Zesshi's ability to shrug it off could only logically mean one thing, that she too possessed a world tier item. Indeed if she had lost it in the confusion and only now regained it then that would explain why she no longer feared a face to face meeting. As a result of his lack of foresight the High-tier undead Koriander had created to oversee the ruined country had been slayed and they were on the verge of loosing their grip on the country itself.

"Mags. Go and inform Lady Koriander that we may have a situation in the Slane Theocracy." Demiurge stated to one of the blue minions.

* * *

After eliminating the other two, Zesshi made use of a scroll from her pocket to revive Kaire. The light of revival disappeared after a few moments and soon there was a old woman in a ill fitting dress where there was a emancipated skeleton mere moments earlier.

"Zesshi?" Kaire asked looking around the room. "What's going on?"

"So you don't know eh?" Zesshi asked in a disappointed tone of voice.

"Know what?" Zesshi asked still looking confused.

After Zesshi filled the old woman in on what was going on, Kaire had her undead lead them to the former coliseum, now it was a pit where large amounts of undead were being thrown in and where necromancers were fusing their bodies together.

"Now what is going on here I wonder?" Zesshi asked smiling deviously at the large mass of bones that was being gathered at the center of the arena.

"I've seen this before, it looks like they're trying to build something out of the bones." Kaire stated scratching her chin.

Suddenly, something within the bone pile stirred, to be more accurate, the pile itself was stirring, assembling itself into the rough shape of a large western dragon, with several magical runes going across it's body.

"A bone dragon? Well that's disappointing." Zesshi stated pouting at the sight.

"You may jest, but that is a powerful undead to a normal person, immune to most forms of magic." Most forms, aside from six and up spells that Zesshi could use as Kaire had learned over the years.

"Aha. Sure. But what do you think those runes on it are for?" Zesshi understood that animals could learn up eight different kinds of spells, which this undead could technically be classified as, if the number of magic symbols on it's body was any indication, then this one had already learned all eight of them.

"I get the feeling we don't want to find out. So are you going to go down there and kill it, or am I going to have to take it over?" Kaire asked looking Zesshi in the eye.

"Don't you want to see what it will do?" Zesshi asked smirking smugly down at the undead.

"No not really. All that I do know that they are going through a great deal of trouble to make it, that's reason enough to break it." While Zesshi and Kaire argued the shifting mass of bones activated one of it's magic runes and took off into the air, a fly spell.

"One down, seven left to go." Zesshi stated in a somewhat disappointed tone of voice.

The giant mass of dragon shaped bone circled around the sky several times creating something that looked like a storm as the second of it's eight runes activated.

"Rain?" Kaire questioned holding out her hand and watching it beaten with the water droplets. A third of the eight runes on the dragon's body activated, and the water turned green, the liquid burnt the skin of Kaire before the two raised a barrier in the style of a umbrella.

"Poison?" Zesshi asked cocking a confused brow at the situation.

"Poison's like healing potions to the undead." Kaire explained looking angry. "Those bastards intend to make the undead invincible."

"Well I guess that's my cue." Zesshi jumped into the air and made use of a fly spell, zooming at the skeleton dragon and guillotining the undead weather manipulator with her war scythe. The skeleton dragon crashed into a pool of the poison, the healing effects went to work and the dragon's body was put back together magically, followed shortly thereafter by shaking excess poison off of it before looking hatefully up into the air at Zesshi. "Let's put a end to this farce shall we?" Zesshi holstered her scythe onto her back and followed shortly thereafter by clapping her hands together, pointing her fingers down at the dragon, and fired off a huge bolt of lightning shaped like a dragon, and instantly blew the giant mass of bone to pieces. "Well that was fun. Now, for the rest of them."

* * *

Demiurge was ashamed of himself. Here, his master, taking a day for rest after weeks of tireless work in the name of Nazarick, and here he was, informing her of his failure to prevent the hold on the Slane Theocracy from being broken.

"So, the Slane Theocracy is getting back on it's feet eh?" Koriander stated looking up to the ceiling and smirking deeply. "Then everything, is going to plan."

* * *

 **Review Section** :

Helkil: She doesn't so much think, as she moans in pleasure and leaks lewd fluids.

Pervy Sage Chuck: Whatever you say you selfish, greedy impatient bastard. Come back and read them again in five years.

BMS: Thank you.


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note** : Hm. No reviews. Disappointing. No Matter, Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 10: The Frozen Home

Kieran was seated on a chair in a sort of outdoors bar within Carne Village, across from him were the swords of Darkness, and between them situated on the table like some manner of giant table clothe was a huge map of the area. Currently Kieran was doodling on this expensive looking map, albeit doodling with a purpose.

"So as I understand it, our hamster friend over there controlled the south." Kieran stated using a pen to draw a picture depicting a rat in the south part of the map. "Our one eared friend controlled the east." Kieran made a crude image of a boar in the eastern part of the map. "Some kind of snake man controls the west." Kieran scribbled a line in the western part of the map. "So that just leaves the northern part of the forest." Kieran used the pen to circle the entire northern region of the map, which strangely enough was not forested like the three previous aforementioned areas. "So what's living there?"

"From what we heard not a heck of a lot." Peter stated drinking in mourning for what looked like it was a expensive looking map. "We heard of a group of Mithril adventurer's that went into that area over half a century ago and killed some tree monster that was poisoning all of the other trees. It's possible nobody has claimed the territory because it's just not that appealing to them."

"Hmm." Kieran played with the pen in his fingers while he mused the situation. "By the sounds of things the 'Tree of the North' is long dead. Should we go after the Serpent of the West instead then?" That casual statement made the members of the swords of Darkness tremble with fear, but the Wise King of the Forest thankfully way laid their fears. "That shant be necessary my liege." The hamster in question seemed to have a sad look on his features. "The serpent king was taken into the building of Ruin, home to the Forest of Tob's new ruler, if he is not dead then he will wish he was."

"So in other words, the entire forest is up for grabs?" Kieran questioned prompting those present to look at him like he was crazy. "Oh don't look at me like that, the forest is too big for any one being to control. We should consider pillaging it for all it's worth while we can."

"As long as we don't have to worry about that sorceress." Dyne stated prompting the others to nod their heads.

"You're thinking about this the wrong way." Kieran stated one finger in the air. "If that lady was interested in harming humans, then we'd know it by now. Instead, she only went after the residents of the Forest of Tob, so there's a good chance that she simply wants the same thing that we want."

"Potion ingredients!" Dyne stated in a eureka type moment. "But wait, doesn't that mean she'll take offense to us trying to raid the forest for ourselves?"

"Not if we employ shock and awe tactics." As Kieran was about to explain he saw Nifirea walked into the dining area. "Ah just the man I wanted to see!" Kieran quickly got up from his seat and walked over to the young man in question. "Alright kid, what's the most valuable herb inside of the Great Forest of Tob?"

"What's this sudden interest?" Nifirea asked looking puzzled.

"It is pivotal to your herb gathering mission. We believe that a alchemist has taken up residence in the forest and is the one chasing out all of it's high level monsters, in order to get on her good side we want to arrange a bouquet of high quality potion ingredients, so I repeat the question: Where are the most valuable potion ingredients in this forest?" Kieran asked leading Nifirea over the map that he had drawn over.

"Hmm. I recall rumor of attempt to take a potent herb from the northern part of the forest with mythical healing properties." Nifirea stated scratching his chin.

"Great, lets go!" Kieran readily agreed with a child like enthusiasm.

"Oi, being dragged all over the place by you is getting pretty tiring yah know." Peter stated drooping his head low. "We already had to drop off bits you tore off of monsters a few times already, by the way, the guild master knows about your teleportation grid. The Mayor wants to talk to you when you get back."

"If he's concerned about a breach in the city's defenses then Nabe's only one of a handful of people who can use them. If he wants to use them for himself then he needs to negotiate that matter with Nabe as well. Either way it's irrelevant until we go back to the city, and for now I'm taking that super herb first." Kieran explained as he got up to leave.

"Oi. We should have asked for more money." Peter stated letting out his voice of dissatisfaction.

"If you feel that you are not being paid enough, perhaps you can ask me for more compensation." Kieran stated as he made for the village gates.

"And what compensation would you provide? Surely not your armor or swords?" Peter asked looking at Kieran suspiciously.

"I was thinking training." Kieran explained while getting The former Wise King of the Forest ready to ride.

"Training?" Lukrut asked looking confused.

"Indeed. I believe that I know a cheap trick that can raise a person's stats up in a hurry." Kieran stated as he held up his hand to stop the Sword's of darkness from moving. "However, I must warn you that this training in question can be quite serious, if you do not feel confidence in your abilities, then it could even kill you." That made sense, as Peter recalled in order to raise one's experience then they needed to be put into dangerous situations, so by the sounds of things Kieran knew what he was doing.

"What are going to get us to fight some dangerous monster?" Peter asked eyeing Wise King of the Forest suspiciously.

"Hardly. Now, any one interested in my offer of training, raise your your weapons right now." Kieran stated standing in front of the assembled Swords of Darkness. Somewhat confused, the four Adventurer's raised up their weapons to Kieran in full striking position. "Excellent, then we may begin." Suddenly, a malevolent aura violently erupted from Kieran. The members of the swords of darkness found themselves paralyzed, unable to move a single fibre of their being, their senses dulled and their consciousnesses began to retreat into the depths of their minds for safety. "What's the matter?" That voice, and indeed that silhouette, of a black armored warrior was oddly prominent in that pitch black aura of certain death, it couldn't even be called something as meager as murderous intent, no more like a promise, a promise to destroy everything, leaving naught even ground for the ashes to fall upon, a apocalyptic promise. "Is this all that a 'Iron plate' amounts to?" The dark figure shrouded in darkness asked as he drew his sword, wrought red like it was fresh from the forge, glowing runes carved into the weapon, like the mighty hammer of a god that would mark the end of the world. That challenge made their blood boil. The didn't know why, but it felt like their limbs had been filled with energy and demanded that they move, to strike down the end of the world that stood before them, like they were pushed to the pinnacle of human achievement.

""""OOOOOOUUUUUURRRRAAAAAYYYYYYYY!""""

It was like the village was flooded, and they were now at the bottom of a lake. No it was exactly like that, a vast ocean of death and destruction and they were drowning in it. In spite of this situation they moved, with their limbs restrained by unmatched murderous intent they still forced themselves to walk forward.

"Good. Here I come then." A loud clang signaled the end of the conversation.

In one hand, Kieran was holding onto the arrows that Lukrut had fired directly at Kieran's eye holes, in his other hand his blade blocked Peter and Dyne's mace and blade, both of which smoked in a manner which indicated they had received Ninya's fire ball attack.

"Congratulations, you're still alive." The four Adventurer's collapsed to their knees panting, having broken out in a cold sweat and their eyes wide with fear, Lukrut threw up. "Your courage is quite great, lemme guess. Your closeness with one another gave you strength move forward?" Kieran asked but then he voiced another realization. "Or is it because I insulted your pride as adventurer's? Either way, a few more of those and you should find your abilities have gone up a notch or two."

"What are you?" Peter asked as he gripped grass in his hands and watched as his sweat rolled off of his face. "What the hell are you?"

"I am a destroyer, simple as that." Kieran stated, giving a playful shrug of his shoulders.

* * *

Balloma was displeased, the map that she went through the trouble of procuring had been reduced to a table cloth, complete with spilled left overs and child like doodles. Just as she was going to go and castrate Kieran she saw that he had left behind something on the table, a book with a note attached which clearly read 'first intelligence report.' Mildly intrigued, Balloma picked the book up and perused it's contents. It was a bingo book, a reference guide for adventurers on how much different kinds of monsters that could be found in the kingdom were worth. Not only Monsters though, there was also a list of the most wanted criminals, lists of their stats and abilities, and rewards for information on them or their capture. To be more accurate, this was a list of the most dangerous people in the kingdom.

"Idiot." Balloma put the book away before ripping out the 'table cloth' from the table. "Enri, I've got something I want you to wash!"

* * *

E-Rantle was known for many things, one of those things was being a city that over time had become tailor made for adventurers. It was also known as the Re-Estize's army staging ground, where the Kingdom would gather it's forces together in anticipation of the yearly war in order to equip them with weapons and armor and run them through basic training. The third thing it was known for however was it's massive graveyard. Due to the yearly war with with Baharuth Re-Estize would have a massive number of it's people killed off in a manner that can be likened to a yearly ritual sacrifice. In order to prevent this massive number of people who had been sent off to die from being turned into undead, their bodies had to be transported back to Re-Estize and receive proper ritual burial, not even simple mass cremation could prevent the undead from rising, and instead resulted in a massive nigh invulnerable undead known as a ash king that prompted both sides to briefly put away their differences to dispose of it. At least that was the way that she heard it. The comparatively short woman nimbly moved through the graveyard in spite of the warnings of the guards, for even though they had been brought here for the singular purpose of keeping them from turning undead, they still did it anyway albeit with dramatically reduced frequency when compared to the Katze plains. Heedless of the undead potentially roaming about, the young woman entered a tomb and pushed open one of the coffin's lids, revealing a stair way hidden inside. Jumping onto those stairs, a temple like area made itself known, complete with purple tapestries hanging from the ceiling. As she made her way down deeper she stumbled upon the sight of a ritual being performed, the body a recently deceased person was in the middle of a ring of people in robes, before he slowly rose to his feet as a newly raised undead.

"Oh Clementine, it's you again." The leader of the group of mages was not among the undead, he might as well have been though with his bald head and sunken features he looked like a skeleton in a robe.

"Now now, don't be like that with me Khajit." The woman in the robe on the other hand was very much among the living, in fact her bright features would even make one consider her as being pretty. But those eyes hid a maniacal gleam, one of someone who was broken on the inside, broken beyond the ability of anyone to repair or heal. "After all, who has been providing you with a limitless stream of bodies for you to turn into recruits for your army?"

"Yes, reanimating the undead one by one has slowly built up our forces, except of course for the fact that the guards and adventurers keep putting them down, which you are suppose to stop them from doing." Khajit stated in a deeply displeased tone of voice.

"Why raise them up one at a time, when we can just use this bring up your army." As Clementine said that, she brought out something which resembled a necklace, though it was far too small to fit around a person's neck, instead we have numerous strings of gold each attached to a jewel in a delicate interwoven spider web, surely anyone who saw it would think of it as a piece of art of the highest order.

"What that piece of junk?" Khajit on the other hand was clearly not a patron of the fine arts. "Couldn't you have grabbed something useful on your way out from the Slane Theocracy?"

"Now now don't say that, all we really need is someone who can equip it right?" Clementine replied as if it were a simple matter.

"Do you know of such a person?" Khajit replied in a mocking tone of voice.

"When I choose to leave the Slane Theocracy, I picked up this little trinket, I knew I couldn't equip it and even if I could use it I'm not stupid enough to equip this cursed item." As if to emphasize her point, Clementine threw that aforementioned item up into the air before catching it on her finger and twirled it around her. "So instead, I went looking for someone who could equip it, and I found that a person with a talent to use any magical item lives in this city." That appeared to get Khajit's interest. "Unfortunately, I've swung by to go and pick him up a few times now, but he wasn't there, according to his granny he's been out on a quest to gather some potion ingredients for their shop." That bit of news displeased Khajit. "Why do you look so upset?"

"I've received a report from my colleagues in the former Slane Theocracy, the enemy has finally unleashed their monster and their devastating their horde so they're cutting their losses and heading to make the City of the Dead that I've made into my domain as a temporary headquarters." Khajit stated breathing a heavy sigh.

"Wow they've got high expectations!" Clementine stated letting out a laugh. "Alright, I'll head down to the adventurer's guild and figure out where that guy went."

"Are you sure that's wise?" Khajit asked looking surprised. "At least change out of that first."

"Why would I? After all what better place is there I should go to pick up some nice high quality corpses?" Clementine asked giving off a twisted grin.

"Damn battle crazed lunatic." Saying that Khajit and his apprentices went back to work.

* * *

The members of Swords of Darkness made their way on carriage drawn by giant hamster out to the northern end of the Great Forest of Tob. It seemed like a long way just to gather ingredients, especially to a area that looked like it was having the life sucked out of it, but Kieran didn't seem to have much of a problem, from what they could tell he was planning on taking the extra ingredients that they gathered as a gift to his sister, who was apparently the one who made that potion he had in his flask.

"Any chance we're gonna meet this sister of yours?" Lukrut asked a devious smile on his face.

"She prefers women idiot." Kieran replied as statement of fact.

"Prefers women for what?" Lukrut asked looking confused.

"She's gay." Kieran stated annoyed.

"What does that mean?" Lukrut only looked more confused.

"For the love of..." Kieran picked the blonde haired and clearly ignorant idiot up by his shirt and looked him straight in the eye. "What I mean is, as oppose to rolling around on the floor naked rubbing her intimate parts against yours, she prefers to do that with women."

Lukrut looked stunned, as if he was just introduced to a miraculous concept, that faded though as his face twisted into a lewd smile while blushing profusely.

"You think that she'd let me watch?" An exasperated Kieran could only put Lukrut down as he leaned on his fist in thought.

"She might enjoy that, she did join the order of the Red Dawn a while back after all." Kieran's tone of voice was someone who was annoyed with repeating himself.

"'Red Dawn?'" Ninya asked this time being the one who needed a explanation.

"It's a magicians order, most of what they do all day is fuck each other." Ninya severely regretted asking now, if her jaw hanging in fly catcher position was any indication. "Something about sex based magical rituals."

"... What a glorious sounding school of magic..." Was all that Lukrut could say before he collapsed on the brink of passing out.

"Before you over stimulate our archer anymore then what you have, what did you earlier?" Peter asked looking concerned. "That killing intent was inhuman."

"What you mean Nightmare Teller?" Kieran asked cocking a brow as he already wove a lie. "It was a martial art I learned from some particularly nasty demi-humans back home."

"You use to live with demi-humans?" Ninya asked looking confused.

"The place I grew up wasn't as nice as this one, you learned how to fight as a part of your jobs, I learned how to fight as a matter of survival." Kieran stated in a matter of fact fashion.

"It couldn't be that bad, I mean stone walls can..." To the beginning of this statement, Kieran snapped.

"Your walls are made of stone, ours were made of snow. You cities have thousands, my village had dozens. You have rich fertile farmlands, we had creatures several times our size who have no problem eating meat!" In other words, what he was saying was that every day was a fight for survival, the first day that you failed to bring home the bacon was the day that you died. "Have I made my point clear yet?"

"I think you have." To this statement, Kieran turned around to see what looked like a spirit, one that was made out of intangible leaves assembled together into a tiny roughly humanoid figure. "Perhaps I could ask for your help?"


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Note:** Ah Reviews, what I live for. Well that and the cat I'm going to get in the next few days. But mostly the reviews. In either case, Read, Review Favorite and Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 11: The Forest of Ruin

The little forest spirit led the group of adventurer's through the forest that was slowly being drained of life. The closer that they had gotten to the epicenter, the older and more rotted the trees were getting more common as they reached where the area that the spirit, a Dryad, was leading them.

"A long time ago, a monster that can destroy the world fell from the sky and landed here going dormant. It has been feeding off of the area ever since trying to regain it's strength." The Dryad stopped moving and turned to face the group. "Occasionally, a piece of it awakens and threatens the world, every time someone has to put it down again. I've managed to gather and cultivate some rare herbs using what little good soil is left here, I can give them to you if you defeat the monster."

"Hmm. Looks like the 'Tree of the North' wasn't a total bust after all." Kieran stated scratching his chin. "But I'm afraid that merely defeating the monster will not be sufficient."

"Say Wha?" The Dryad asked looking greatly confused.

"I will put this bluntly. If this is a monster that can 'destroy the world' then I am not content to let it keep brewing while the rest of us remain ignorant. I'm gonna draw it out while it's still weak, and if I do not kill it, then someone else will."

"WHAT!? ARE YOU INSANE!?" The Tiny Dryad asked prompting the others present to nod in agreement.

"The insane one are you. Over and Over again you lure people here hoping that at some point a important enough part will awaken that the creature in question will simply die off after it is eliminated. Meanwhile the radius of damage that it has caused continues to grow unabated. I'm bringing the ugly piece of work out, and I'm taking it's head back to the adventurer's guild." Kieran stated crossing his legs.

"You are crazy! The forest will be destroyed!" The Dryad snapped shaking Kieran's chest plate fervently.

"Really?" Kieran turned his head to look at his left, then his right, before looking at the spirit again. "This forest? This already clearly dead and destroyed forest?"

"Huu." The Dryad slinked away as if seen through.

"Or are you more concerned with your own tree?" Dryads were forest spirits, the end result of a tree of sufficient age spontaneously gaining sapience, in the form of a independent free floating spirit. The Dryad is bound to the tree, and cannot go far from it. "I'm a warrior, your herbs mean little to me, and I can find the Tree of the North without you." Kieran stated leaning backwards. "Lead my associates to where your tree is located, and I will arrange to have it transplanted some where safe."

"Huu... This is blackmail." The Dryad stated sighing deeply.

"Allowing a monster of world ending power to roam free is simply intolerable. I make my offer as a courtesy." Kieran stated his voice a immobile block of steel.

"Huu... fine." The defeated Dryad hung it's head low in a depressed and miserable state, prompting sympathetic padding from Dyne.

"Oi boss. Not that we doubt you or anything, but are you sure that you can handle this all by yourself?" Peter asked looking at Kieran suspiciously.

"Easily." Kieran replied shrugging his shoulders.

"But, But, But...! It's a monster that can destroy the world!" The Dryad stated flailing it's tiny arms around and repeating itself like a broken record.

"So am I." Kieran replied, a malevolent grin on his face.

The Dryad led the Swords of darkness to it's tree, which point of interest was also being used to grow the vine like plant with the miraculous properties that Nifirea had told them about. With Dyne's expertise as a Druid the group was successfully able to extricate the tree from the ground, secure it in a sack that was meant to be used for potion ingredients, and used the teleportation magic to send it back to Carne Village.

"Oi moving these things in and out of the wagon all the time is getting tiring." In order to avoid teleporting away all of the potion ingredients gathered thus far, the swords of Darkness had to constantly unload and reload the wagon, and it was starting to get annoying.

"The herb with healing properties is the most valuable one in this forest, and Kieran should have gotten a good feel of the area by now. If he wants to stay then the rest of us can go back to the city so that I can pay you all for your time." When Nifirea said that, he looked to Nabe with a questioning look. "Is that okay? Is Kieran going to have a problem with that?" Nabe looked up as if thinking about it for a moment. Kieran already got paid for the bits of monsters he hacked off and now they had a fat purse of copper and silver coins to show for their efforts, as long as Nifirea paid them for their efforts and gave credit where it was do, then there'd be no problem, so she shook her head in the negative. "Good then it's decided, in the mean time we should try to keep a safe distance from him so that we don't get caught up in the battle with the Tree of the North."

* * *

Once the others had left Kieran was left sitting in a large clearing alone, seated in a meditative position. Once the others had left through the woods, Kieran need to make use of Nightmare teller to draw out the tree of the north, of course eliminating the witnesses in this manner meant that he would have to drive the Tree of the North towards the city to appropriate witnesses. That unfortunately meant that his reputation would suffer as a result. Instead he would have to bring back physical proof of his accomplishment, and then the city would have to send someone here to confirm the existence of the monster's corpse. That would complicate their ability to claim it and any associated resources.

"Hmm. If Balloma can get the contract with the city to clean up the mess, then it shouldn't be a problem." As far as Kieran knew, there were no logging operations in the Forest of Tob, likely because of all of the unpleasant creatures running around, but if there were any outstanding cultural or religious reasons why logging wasn't allowed in the forest then it shouldn't be a problem since the tree was a monster and already dead. "Mm Hm. Sounds like it'll keep Balloma off of my back any way." Kieran stated getting back up to his feet. "Now than, time to get to work."

Kieran stomped his foot, and unleashed a blanket blast of killing intent in all directions, the idea here being to aggro everything within a hundred mile radius, and either they would recognize a superior existence when they saw one and flee, or they would be terrorized into attacking him an effect he hoped to achieve with the Tree of the North. As if crumbling under the the sheer weight of his intent to kill, the ground beneath Kieran's feet began to shake. Finally, something resembling a giant tree shaped like a roughly humanoid arm emerged from beneath the dirt and grabbed hold of the ground to push itself up, revealing a giant body made out of wood, and a huge head that could best be described as a log that had a crude face hacked into it with a ax. Kieran squinted at his foe, his inbuilt power to assess the potential of his opponent told him that it was only as level 85, powerful by the standards of the continent, pathetic by the standards of Kieran's homeland as well as those of Nazarick.

"Well that's disappointing." Kieran stated letting out a sigh. Near as he can tell, the only outstanding feature of this pile of kindling wood was it's ludicrously high amount of health that he couldn't even properly assess with his powers. "Ah well." Kieran shrugged his shoulders, at the very least using this thing as a punching bag would be entertaining for a few hours. With that in mind, Kieran removed both of his sheaths from his belt and planted them firmly in the ground. "Let the Carnage begin." Suddenly both sheath's exploded, punting the blades and the person who was attached to them up into the air with ludicrous amounts of speed, Kieran's ignited blades turned him into a spinning inferno as he manipulated the momentum to turn himself into a deadly buzzsaw as he plunged into the body of the Tree of the North.

"GUUUUAAGGG!" A ghastly scream howled throughout the air as that massive tree started having chunks ripped off of it in mass.

* * *

"What in Nazaricks name is that ghastly sound?" Koriander had been in the middle of something, but she was almost done and that noise demanded a bare minimum of investigation. Thus she threw on her robe and made for the door. "Gnarl, let Albedo out of her restraints once she's done." Koriander stated as she passed by the diminutive minion in question.

Some what reluctantly, Gnarl tore himself away from the succubus hanging from the ceiling by her tits and her legs spread open by adamantine pole and cuffs as she slowly dripped beetles from her posterior, her gag and nipple rings positioned in a manner where she was sucking on her own high potency healing and stamina boosting milk to counteract the insects that were trying to eat their way out of her. Suffice to say, Albedo was a masochist whose mind set was broken into a unrecognizable state a long time ago, indeed the fact that such a mind warped enough to actually enjoy the feeling of being eaten alive from the inside out and in spite of that fact could help run things as smoothly as she does was a miracle only one of the overlords was capable of. But for now there was other matters to attend to.

"Mistress, Naberal has a report from Master Kieran." Gnarl stated pulling up a section of parchment. "He has managed to gather a large number of items: firstly a wide variety of Alchemy ingredients including a rare herb with potent medicinal properties, secondly he has procured a Dryad that has apparently been living in the northern part of the forest finally he is in the middle of tearing apart a rather large Treant and sending it over here piece by piece. He would like to point out that is also on top of bringing Balloma a list of the most wanted criminals in the kingdom and making one of the top four monsters in the forest his personal pet."

"Hmm. So Balloma chose to prod him into action did she?" Koriander laughed in delight. "Have all the supplies Kieran delivers to Nazarick transferred to Balloma's room."

"Of course Mistress. Am I right to assume that you have plans for those supplies?" Gnarl asked tilting his head off to the side.

"Treant wood makes for high quality crafting material. If some of the branches are still good then we can use them to make Treants of our own. The Dryad will have great potential too given the right fertilizer. Altogether we'll have a highly effective guard made ready for us soon enough." Koriander stated smirking her twisted little grin as she thought over the situation. "Start inspecting the incoming raw material, I want any that still has leaves attached separated and put aside."

"Of course Mistress. Demiurge has the latest report on the Dwelf hybrids as well." Gnarl stated as he flipped through the sheets of parchment.

"Hopefully he isn't going to tell me that he's been playing with my undead again is he?" Koriander asked as she prepared a bottle of something from a cabinet.

"No. Thanks to Sebas he's successfully taught the Dwelfs how to control their draconic abilities. Demiurge recommended that we begin their training and other enhancements immediately." Gnarl stated reviewing the information on the parchment.

"I'll get the necromancers and the Succubi together tomorrow. For now I want Demiurge to start a new experiment. The details are here." Koriander stated handing Gnarl a rolled up piece of parchment.

"You want us to feed liquid magic to the spiders?" Gnarl asked reading through the details of the parchment.

"The reanimated snake was a failure, but a educational one. A infusion of Demonic power left him vulnerable to the Golden Plague, so instead we should try neutral magic power." As Koriander said that, she pored a glass of blue syrupy liquid into a glass. "Once the spiders have raw magic infused into their venom, they should be able to infuse raw magical power into the corpses they feed off of." Which they will then reanimate as undead, which will become stronger from the magic infused poison in their veins, which will be revived as a more powerful creature sans negative power. "With this, we have taken our first step towards building our army. Ask Balloma to see if we can start any wars so that we can get a good idea how they'd fair in one." Koriander stated drinking the electric blue substance she had pored for herself.

"Thy will shall be done mistress." Gnarl stated taking a bow before turning around, being greeted by the milky white body of Albedo.

"Mistress is there something wrong?" Albedo asked, making perfect strides, yet more proof of her use to this and legendary Succubi stamina.

"Come over here and scratch this itch for me would you?" Koriander stated curling her finger at Albedo.

"Of course mistress." Albedo stated a hungry look in her eyes.

At once the half succubus went over to Koriander and knelt before her, plunging her head between her legs and putting her tongue to work, as if encouraging her Koriander wrapped her legs around the Nymphomaniacal Succubus.

"How many do you think you and your sisters can handle?" Koriander asked drawing circles in Albedo's scalp with her finger.

" _Mapck_." Albedo wetly smacked her lips and slurped the milky substance that had appeared on her lips. "Each of us has three holes to work with, so we can handle three at a time each, but our hands can prepare two more, and our milk has been imbued with magic to excite the male part so that's another two. Are we going to be training new recruits tomorrow?" Albedo asked before she resumed the task that her mistress had assigned her.

"The day after at the most, we also need to look into getting the production line up and running. Kieran has delivered us a Dryad, so we should be able to retool that into the central production controller for our arms and armor." Koriander stated a lewd smirk on her face.

"Once again, your brilliance astounds me milady." Albedo praised her lips dripping with liquid.

"Who said you could stop?"

* * *

After about a Day of hacking away at the Tree of the North Kieran successfully reduced it to manageable pieces, explaining to the group that he intended to inform his sister Balloma about the surplus of reclaimed lumber lying around so that she can hire some people to drag away the various bits and bobs of the Tree of the North.

"Thanks but I'm not sure that we can keep up with you like this." A tired looking Peter admitted as the rode on the back of the carriage. Even though the carriage had a teleportation type magic circle engraved into it, Nifirea still needed to get the cart back to the E-Rantle, for which he needed to be escorted. "Still with all of the money you helped us raise we should be able to get some plate mail armor. That should help us go up in rank a bit." Peter stated breathing a sigh of relief.

"Why would Plate mail help you go up in rank?" Kieran asked in a confused tone of voice.

"Well obviously better armor means that we can take on tougher monsters." Peter stated in a obvious tone of voice.

"Does the local enchanter do high quality workmanship? Or do you honestly mean to tell me that you're one of those people that believe plate mail armor is better to go monster hunting in?" Kieran stated in a amused tone of voice.

"It is isn't it?" Peter asked sounding confused.

"Plate Mail's only good if you're up against sharp pointy things, well that and Metal can hold more magical power then fabric and leather. Aside from claws and teeth do the local monsters have much in the way of Sharp pointy things? Are there a bunch of sword wielding loons running around that you can turn in to get coin?" To Kieran's amused prodding, the adventurer's shock their heads in the negative. "Listen here, when one can expect blunt instruments to be the choice weapon of their opponents, then one must take full advantage of that fact and armor yourself appropriately. For instance metal armor is best for deflecting sharp blows, but against blunted blows it only conducts the blow to you, the person that it's suppose to protect. Swords are some of the most effective weapons to use against another person, and metal the most effective armor to block the blows of a sword, smart commanders equip their men with multiple weapons to account for these weaknesses, as well as multiple layers of armor made out of different materials." For the record, Kieran wasn't doing all of this because he was worried about the members of the swords of darkness, rather it was because he couldn't stand them being so stupid with their conduct. He'd never get a good opponent if everyone who stands a chance dies off stupidly.

"I hear that the kingdom doesn't do that with their soldiers." Lukrut pointed out, leaning in with a small amount of concern on his features.

"How does that work out?" And that was the clincher, the Kingdom that didn't properly arm it's soldiers and didn't have the time or resources to train them, only limited to trying to out number the empires forces six to one.

"What do you recommend?" Peter asked cocking a brow suspiciously.

"Cloth or leather armor first and foremost, plate mail is a secondary priority. You should also consider wearing something that won't cause an excessive heat build up in the spring and summer months, but won't leave you too cold in the winter and fall months, again wearing different kinds of armor for different occasions. Considering the fact that most of the things out there are a lot bigger and stronger than you and can likely wreck any armor you can afford with their eyes closed, the best defense is not getting hit in the first place, for that reason maintaining speed and maneuverability are paramount." Kieran explained sounding awfully smug with himself.

"So what you're saying is that you should protect yourself against everything?" Peter laughed at his interpretation of Kieran's words. "Aren't you being a little bit too greedy?"

"Peter my friend, I am a great many things." Kieran stated holding his hand to his chest. "But greedy is only about ten of them."

* * *

 **Review Section** :

PervySageChuck: Liquid refreshment, specifically milk, is ready at all times, but snacks are your responsibility.

Helkil: I thought it was. Naturally, Clementine will be receiving a even more humiliating and painful death then she did in the Overlord Canon.


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's Note:** Not much to say right now, Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 12: The Building of Defense

Balloma was not happy, the warehouses that were suppose to be for her use had been appropriated by Koriander and were now being used to store a ludicrously large amounts of wood, a decent sized portion of which was sticking out of sacks filled with dirt and decorated with leaves. In other words, they were ready for planting. And yet, not, for the minions were hard at work splicing in bits of familiar wood that looked like they came from in and around the dark tower back on the old world. A little Dryad was floating around the area looking equal parts confused and scared. Clearly she had never seen these plants before, or if she did what she did know concerned it, which meant that Balloma was concerned too.

"Alright you." Balloma stated stalking up to the tiny Dryad like a panther spotting prey. "What's going on here?"

"Th-Th-That's from the great Tree of Evil!" The little Dryad that was lost in it's own little world screeched yanking on it's flower petal like hair.

"So, some kind of Treant. Based on the sheer volume here, I'd say a rather large one." Balloma stated scratching her chin.

"We have to stop them!" As if taking note of Balloma's presence, the Dryad grabbed hold of Balloma by her shirt and started yanking on it rocking her back and forth. "All of those plants are radiating with magical power! If they combine them with the Great Tree of Evil then it will be invincible!"

"Yes that's probably the idea." Suddenly, one of the plants started to twitch and from it emerged a diminutive little creature, it wasn't much bigger than a minion, appeared to be mostly composed of a mildew covered black cloak and had the skull of a giant rat for a head, it's needy little paws had a bow in hand. "Ah good, it doesn't look like there'll be any problem spawning skulls."

"'Skulls?'" The Dryad asked looking terrified.

"They're similar creatures to yourself, in that they're a type of tree spirit. According to legends past the the Elven hero Oberon Greenhaze was cursed with a deep slumber and fell asleep inside of a mighty tree of the Evernight Forest. He subsequently merged with the tree, his corruption spread to all the trees of the forest, and from them spawned the Nightmare Skulls, cursed monsters born of nightmares. This one is relatively small though." Balloma explained her chin in her hand.

"Why are analyzing it!? KILL IT!" Suddenly, the little Dryad fell to the ground twitching as if having a seizure.

"The combination of Treants which are more than capable of defending itself, and a limitless supply of skulls should make for a highly effective defense force." Balloma stated turning her attention to face Gnarl who had been overseeing the process of splicing together the Treants and the skull trees.

"Mistress. Would you like for us to exterminate this pest for daring to give one such as thou commands?" Gnarl asked making a effort to look impressive.

"Don't bother, she'll be dead soon any way in a manner of speaking." Indeed, the Dryad had foam coming from it's mouth as it convulsed on the ground violently, it's green leaves were turning black and something that resembled tree branches were starting to emerge from the sides of her head. "The only thing left afterwards will be loyalty to us and Nazarick. What about the Dwelfs?"

"Follow me Mistress and I shall show you." Gnarl led Balloma down the halls, where another warehouse had been prepared. The Misplaced flesh of dragons was no nowhere to been in the bodies of the Dwelfs, as made evident from their naked bodies that had been shackled together by their necks leaving only muscular human like flesh exposed. A Death Knight pulled on the chain and dragged one of the first of the Dwelfs forward, where it was immediately clamped down by a giant spider with visible electric blue veins.

"So phase one of the production line has been built, what about phase two then?" Balloma asked impationately observing the struggling newborn adult.

"GRAAAA!" The Dwelf wailed in pain for a few moments, before it's stiff body fell lifelessly to the ground.

A Elder Lich who had been on standby until now went to work. Raising bony fingers, armor that had been prepared before hand flew onto the body of the dwelf, a black ichor fell from thin air and encompassed the the corpse which then came to life. The Dwelfs met the requirement to become mid tier undead known as Death knights, by sheer virtue of being raised to their physical peak that was over double that of a human being, far below Demiurge's calculations unfortunately but not for long. The Body of the Death Knight twitched violently, the blue liquid that had taken the place of it's dissolved guts was absorbed into it's body and it rapidly grew in height and power. This immensely powerful creature was quickly eliminated by a instant death attack produced by the elder lich. The undead spell caster in question once again summoned the black ichor and consumed the body of the freshly slain undead, once more it was twisted and contorted into a unrecognizable state, before emerging as a newly born undead, a Jack the Ripper. For a third time, the newborn undead was slain, cloaked in the familiar cloth of a spell caster, and for a third time it was consumed in the ichor of undead reanimation, this time turned into a elder lich. There was a point to this constant dying and reanimation, in each instance the new born undead was given talents that it did not possess in life, talents that enhanced upon it's powers as a warrior, rogue and mage to a level beyond that of a humanoid creature.

"Phase two is ready as well, though we'll need to devote more necromancers then this, one by one is simply intolerable." Balloma commented observing the dramatically enhanced undead.

Finally the Elder lich cast the raise dead spell, which instead of transforming the creature before him into a new kind of undead, instead simply turned it back into it's original form as a living breathing creature, but now dramatically enhanced. The formerly undead Dwelf was then escorted into a cubical with half a dozen of it's brethren. There, spread out on a bed was a succubus, laying down on top of another Dwelf, with a second between her legs, and a third on top of her, four more were at either side of her, either sucking on magically altered breasts or having their manhood stroked. Needless to say, they were all fucking her, or getting ready to fuck her. One of the abilities of the Succubus was to relay information via sex, the Succubus who was being fucked three ways to Sunday was versed thoroughly in the ways of the rogue, warrior and Mage because of this fact, and now she was imparting that information on these newly born warriors. White cream erupted from three holes at once, and the Succubus kicked the three Dwelf's who had been in her holes up until now and sent them off else where before taking in the three manhoods that she had prepared already while the three she had ejected were escorted elsewhere.

"And phase three is completed as well." Balloma commented observing the three thoroughly trained foot soldiers as they left the room. "What about phase four?" Balloma asked looking down at Gnarl.

"The factory to produce weapons is going slowly." Gnarl escorted Balloma to another ware house building.

Human body parts were being carelessly tossed aboard a cart for disposal, and Demiurge looked down right proud of himself as he over saw several wooden golem arms connected to Iron Maidens. The Golem arms used magic to shape molten metals from the three magic smelters to convert raw materials into weapons and armor in the size of the Dwelf warriors, then enchant them with magic to make them lighter, stronger, and enhance upon the wearer's stats dramatically, spiders were producing a steady supply of silk that were being woven into mages robes and a layer of gambison.

"Demiurge, I trust that you aren't having any trouble with the production line?" Balloma asked walking behind Demiurge.

"Not at all mistress." Demiurge opened up the face plate of the iron maiden and revealed the face of Nigun, albeit Nigun in a horrible state. The corner of his mouth was twitching and drooling, and his eyes had rolled into the back of his head, revealing veins that looked like they had the blood sucked out of them and replaced with electric blue liquid. "The Half Golems I prepared are handling production with ease."

"Hmm. This one looks to be in bad shape, by the looks of things the production process is quite stressful on him." Balloma stated, noting the clear liquid that was starting to come out of Nigun's tear ducts, only Balloma suspected they weren't tears, if the way that his skull had started to cave in was any indication.

"If you are concerned about him, we can dial back production by a bit." Demiurge stated in a polite tone of voice.

"Don't be ridiculous. He's just a machine now, if part of a machine breaks down, then replace it. You can summon mind flayers can't you?" Balloma scolded in a obvious tone of voice.

"Hmm." Demiurge recalled that a Mind Flayer was a type of demon that decapitates other creatures and attaches themselves to the severed torso in place of the head. Such a creature would be ideal for the production line and Demiurge kicked himself for not thinking of it himself. "Once again, I find myself outmatched by the wisdom and knowledge of the supreme beings." Demiurge stated as he bowed dramatically to Balloma.

"Naturally. I've finished preparations at the life force farm, so I'll be taking Sebas, Shalteer and a select number of subordinates to infiltrate the kingdom now." Balloma stated in the tone a master would use to direct their subordinates. "When I get back, I expect to see the junk Koriander left in my room cleaned out." Balloma's voice was firm and uncompromising, and gave the impression of awaiting death should it not be heeded.

"Of course mistress. I will make it so at once." Demiurge stated giving another bow before Balloma left.

* * *

When the Wise King of the Forest called this place the 'building of ruin' this wasn't what they were expecting. It was clean and immaculate, the strangest thing about it was that it seemed to spring up over night, the other strangest thing about it would why someone would build something like a luxurious mansion in the middle of the woods. Compared to those two things, the woman who was acting like hostess was normal, and she was a half elf with two toned hair and skin, mis-matched eyes and electric blue liquid flowing through her veins.

"So it's good to see that my brother has been making friends." Koriander stated smiling warmly at the quadrio who had been brought before her, a cinqtupple when you counted Nifirea. "So what brings you to my neck of the woods anyway?"

Wordlessly, the four adventurers and their employer turned to face Kieran who was lounging about in a arm chair next to Koriander, the looks on their faces was pure betrayal.

"The inhabitants of this forest..."

"Former inhabitants." Koriander stated correcting Peter.

"... are quite afraid of this place. Out of concern for the nearby villages we decided to investigate." Peter explained, unable to shake the feeling that there was something wrong with the half elf mage.

"I don't know why? I mean all I did was toy around with a troll who had come to protest my building my home here." The Giant of the East. The members of the Swords of Darkness immediately concluded who was responsible for that Troll's ruined state of mind and hence tensed up in fear. "So what can I do for you fine people anyway?"

"The alchemist wishes to trade notes with you. Your recipes in exchange for his knowledge of the locale plants and other alchemy ingredients. The others wish to trade a portion of the supplies they've gathered in exchange for new equipment." Kieran stated gesturing to his sister's dinner guests.

"Aha I see." Koriander stated as she left for another part of the mansion. "Follow me, and you will see what I have to part with."

* * *

Peter and his associates never thought they would see materials as fine as this for as long as they lived, fine silks, woods and metals were united in a display of magical weapons and armors that they would never be able to afford if they saved for a life time. Koriander would thoroughly inspect the materials that they had gathered, assign worth, and through that credit they had gained they would be able to select the items before them for purchase.

"Foreigners are terrifying." Nifirea stated watching the Swords of Darkness handle the high quality items before them. "I've never seen materials like this before." Through his item assessment magic, Nifirea had determined that all of these items had a level of durability on par with Adamantine in spite of the fact that most of it wasn't made out of the stuff and radiated with magical power like the legends of old. If Nifirea was told that this place was a armory for the Eight Greed Kings he would believe the teller of that story in a instant. Instead though he had been told something even more unbelievable, that one person had made all of this stuff by herself. "You're clearly a magic caster of great power." Nifrea asked eating one of the cookies that had been left for him. "Were you born with it, or did you develop your power over a period of time?"

"Yes and no. You see I paid a great price for my power." Koriander stated tracing her finger along the blue veins in her neck. "At least that's what people keep telling me. Apparently removing all of the blood in my veins and replacing it with liquid magic messed me up in the head a little bit." Koriander explained giving a smile and a shrug.

"Liquid... magic?" Nifirea asked in surprise. As far as he knew, magic was a form of energy, for someone to make a liquid out of it, let alone replace the blood in their veins with it, was crossing even further into the realm of unbelievable than he already was.

"Is it so far fetch? People use magic to produce liquids all the time." As if proving her point, Koriander snapped her fingers and a crystal pitcher filled with water had appeared. "I just used more magic."

"Something has been on my mind for a while." People were attracted to the strong, for the strong ensured prosperity in a uncertain world, Koriander who had protected Carne Village, Kieran who slaughtered the monsters of the Forest of Tob, even Balloma whose mind calculated and executed prosperity to last for decades in a single blink of the eye. These three siblings who had dropped into the world displayed power that was worthy of the gods with the most casual of gestures. "I was wondering if I could learn from you or Kieran."

Something Kieran had said, greed was one of the most important things when seeking power. Never settle, always look for greater heights of power. Here he had been presented with three entirely different peaks of power, and he felt like if he could climb just one of them, he could be one of the most powerful people in the world.

"Why this sudden interest in expanding your horizons?" Koriander asked cocking a brow at him. "Or has this always been a interest of yours?" After all, Koriander never met this boy before, so she had no right to decide whether his interests were sudden or not. But from what she heard from Enri the little Alchemist has never displayed any interest in being anything other than a alchemist.

"The village where the person that I like was attacked recently, and they've lost their guardian, who is cowering outside your door." The vast difference in power between Koriander and the Wise King of the Forest could be easily seen in the way that the giant hamster refused to enter the house and instead chose to cower into the bushes. "For someone like me who has started the path of seeking power, you seem like a good place to start." Nifirea was no longer sitting at this point, he had now gotten on his hands and knees and prostrate himself before Koriander. "Please, show me the way to the pinnacle of power."

"Hmm." Koriander took out a magic pipe from her storage space and held it to her lips with the smoke coming out of the other end. "You preposition interests me, it interests me greatly." As if proving a point, Koriander pulled out a magic blade from the inter-dimensional space. "Hold this." As Nifirea took the blade into his hands he studied it closely, it was a black blade with several runes that glowed an electric blue etched into it.

"I've never seen metal like this before. Is it Adamantite?" Nifrea examined the blade a little longer before raising it into the air to swing it down, only for Koriander to instead punt it off back into her dimensional space.

"At the very least your utility outweighs your ignorance." Koriander stated as if satisfied with her observations. She too read Kieran's intelligence report, which outlined Nifirea as a person who is capable of using any magical item. The fact that Nifirea could equip a weapon of divine class was proof of that. "Tell you what I will educate you on magic, and in exchange you will allow me to study your ability to equip magic items." Koriander stated holding out a hand to Nifirea. "Deal?"

"Deal!" Nifirea immediately shot his hand out and shook hands with Koriander, not noticing the spark of magic that had gone between them. "Oh but I need to get back to E-Rantle and drop some stuff off first."

"I can wait." Koriander stated shrugging her shoulders and leaning back with a smirk on her face.

The Swords of Darkness swapped out much of their equipment, half of the group, Peter and Lukrut, now made use of a silk undershirt with spring steel plate, given a light weight enchantment and a enchantment that ensures that they who are inside of the armor remain at an ideal temperature to remain in fighting condition, the two mages, Dyne and Ninya, now sported silk robes with enchantments for durability and magic capacity enhancement wove directly into the fabric. Peter now sported the poisoned size changing blade they took off of the Giant of the East, Lukrut a bow that cackled with electricity, Dyne's mace was much larger and was made to resemble a large tree root, while Ninya's new staff glowed with the power of fire.

"I still don't know how we'll going to repay you for all of this." Peter looked troubled by all of the stuff that his group had been given, any sane person would imagine that a deal like what they had gotten had a large number of strings attached to them.

"As payment, you can spread word of my magic crafts as far and as wide as possible." Koriander replied waving the group off. "We'll call it my 'Advertisements discount.'"

"Oi shouldn't you be worried about dangerous people coming here looking for your crafts?" Dyne asked his face twisted in confusion, fully aware that the next person who comes here probably wouldn't try to buy her items.

"That's the idea yes." Koriander stated crossing her arms and smiling sinisterly.

Truely the greed of this family knew no bounds. Kieran and Nabe both climbed aboard the wagon, when at that point in time Ninya came up to him with a question.

"Hey Kierian, shouldn't you ride into town the Wise King of the Forest?"

* * *

 **Review Section** :

PervySageChuck: Can't be helped I'm afraid, it's like... muscle memory, I capitalize words often at random.

Helkil: Balloma has standards for her personal relaxation spots. The purpose of Carne village is the production of life force to birth Minions with.


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's Note** : No reviews? Pity. Moving on, I'm going be a little slow with my writing for the next little while, I finally got my kitten and we are bonding. So Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 13: Dead Rising

It was about a week's travel to the royal capital, that would be the first thing they fixed once they set up shop. A simple teleportation magic circle engraved into the floor of the basement will do the trick. That said, the matter of setting up shop was the number one priority. Simply any old building wouldn't do, it would have to be large enough that they could hide a significant force in, act as a temporary warehouse, and serve as fortress in the worst case scenario. They would have to make up the funds they needed quickly, thanks to advance samples they already had interested buyers in their products that they would use to accrue their seed money and establish connections. Balloma had already booked a table at a restaurant that is suppose to serve gourmet food to various nobles and high class merchants, where she would be having their meeting.

"Does everyone know their roles?" Balloma asked cocking a brow to her companions, huddled together as they were inside of the carriage.

"I will be serving as the head butler, as you are negotiating with the opposition I will be keeping my eyes and ears open for any pieces of relevant information." Sebas stated sitting opposite to Balloma. "When you are at home I will check on various areas throughout the royal capital: The Adventurer's Guild and make a list of all of the requests over there, The Mages where I will make a record and keep track of any magical spells they put out, and I will also look for any other points of interest while I do so."

"Very good. Shalltear?" Balloma asked looking to Shalltear.

"If we run into any opposition, I am to track them down, acquire any and all useful intelligence, then eliminate them or bring them back to Nazarick depending on their value." The young Vampiress sitting next to Sebas stated smiling warmly.

"Excellent. And you Pandora?" Sitting next to Balloma was her treasurer, a faceless creature with three dots for eyes and a mouth dressed in fine military regalia.

"Naturally, I will play the role of your loyal Merchant." As if his features were just a lie, the creature called Pandora melted down and reshaped into a humanoid form of a non-discript person. "I will be tasked with analysis of the market, first I shall pose as another consumer, assessing the value of our items in comparison with that of the market place. Once I have compiled my data, I shall set up my own stall in the higher class part of town where I shall make my on wares known."

"Good. Since we know the value of our healing potions already, we shall start there, that should give you enough time to collect the information that you need Pandora." Balloma stated as the carriage suddenly came to a halt. "That was faster then I thought." Looking outside the window, Balloma was not greeted by the sight of the walls of Re-Estize, but instead with forest, and people in shadows who were carrying lanterns, a sight that prompted Balloma to smack the front of her skull. "For the love of...! Shalltear, your task awaits." Balloma stated gesturing to the door of the Carriage.

"With pleasure." Saying that, Shalltear stepped out of the carriage. Shalltear assessed the opposition before her, they seemed to be run of the mill goons, and not even very well trained or armed goons either, their postures were sloppy and their weapons had the distinct glint of sloppy craftsmanship. This would be... momentarily entertaining.

"Wow!" This one looked particularly low quality, his face was flushed with obvious perversion and his build was scrawny and unimpressive. "For a little shorty you have a nice pair of tits." Also Vulgar, good to know, he would make a good example. The Vulgar little man reached up to put his hand on one of Shalltear's breasts, and the next moment his hand was sent flying through the air. "HYAAAAAHAHHHAHAHA!?" The Man grabbed hold of his severed stump as it bled profusely trying to manage the pain and keep himself from bleeding to death but ultimately in vain. This was not from simple blood loss, rather his blood was being actively drained from his body, sucked clean out of him more accurately, every last drop of it.

"Now I have a question." Shalltear produced her gate ability on either side of her, from both of those portals emerged the forms of thin looking women wearing a torn and ragged wedding dress. Obviously, they were vampires, low-tier vampires known as vampire brides to be precise. "We are only interested in your base of operations. Present one who knows the way, and I will not kill the rest." The various thugs looked at one another dumbly before turning their attention back to Shalltear.

"HYAAAHHHH!"

Five seconds, that's all it took was five seconds, four of those seconds Shalltear spent studying the various thugs and picking out the one she determined to be the one most likely the leader of the thugs. The remaining second had the orb of blood Shalltear readied reached out with a tentacle like appendage and decapitate the other thugs. The sole survivor could only stare at the sight of his slaughtered colleagues mouth agape with pure horrified shock. Shalltear walked pass the scene of carnage followed by her vampiric pets, casually ignoring the mass of blood that was being pulled out of the men's bodies and into the air into a ball of blood.

"Some of your men got onto my shoes." Shalltear stated holding out a high heel clad foot. "Clean them off."

"Right! Of course madam!" The thug immediately got down on his hands and knees and picked up a dirt clod.

"Why are you holding that?" Shalltear asked prompting the fearful man to look up at her. "You weren't thinking of putting more dirt on my shoes were you? No being a mere low tier animal such as yourself, licking the blood off is what you were doing wasn't it?" Taking the spoon fed hint, the thug immediately used his tongue to lick the blood off of Shalltear's shoes with enthusiasm, getting every last drop, he stood up at attention like a loyal lap dog. "Good boy. As a reward I shall not kill you." As if that was some kind of cue, one of the vampire brides pounced on the man and clamped her jaws around his throat, ripped open his neck and sucked the fluids out of his body. "Lady Balloma, what shall we do when we find their base of operations?" Shalltear asked looking back to Balloma. "Transport all the persons inside to Demiurge. I don't care if they're alive or not. Same with these people. By the time you're done we should have our base established, take the transport circle over." Balloma stated as she ordered the coachman to take off down the road.

* * *

Kieran was not amused, not at all. Somehow the so called Swords of Darkness had convinced him to ride into town on the back of a hamster, and Kieran dearly hoped that neither of his sisters ever found out about this. The pay off though could be seen in the way that the towns people stared in awe at him riding in through the town, a Pitch Black Knight riding on the back of a silver beast of legend carrying with him the spoils of war. That's how they saw them. It was a lot better way of saying that a grown man road into a densely populated area on the back of a hamster hauling a cart full of flowers.

"God I hate this job." Kieran stated letting out a annoyed sigh. "Nabe, Balloma wants the money from the Alchemist for the potions, go with Nifirea and the Iron Plates. I've got to get this stupid hamster registered with the guild." Nabe nodded her head, driving the golem horse with the cart full of alchemy ingredients to Nifirea's home with the Swords of Darkness following behind them, away from Kieran who rode the source of his embarrassment to the guild hall.

"Still, this job turned out to be pretty good." Peter stated as he walked with his comrades.

"Aha. I never thought that we'd run into stuff like this on a routine monster hunting gig." Lukrut stated his arms behind the back of his head and a big goofy smile on his face.

"Nothing routine about those two. Think they're nobles?" Dyne asked walking next to the group. "I hear in the Slane Theocracy that they try to selectively breed individuals with multiple talents to make super warriors."

"I heard that a massive number of Undead invaded the Slane Theocracy recently and it was destroyed." Ninya stated face scrunched in concentration.

"'My family are the descendants of a god.'" Nifirea quoted prompting the others to stare at him dumbly. "Something I recall Balloma stating. Apparently he, she or it claimed the title from another god, one who ruled 'the abyss.'"

"So a Godkin." Peter realized piecing the details together. "One who has apparently been spending a great deal of time traveling the lands and impregnating women."

"And now we've got three of them now." Ninya added disturbed by the realization. The group arrived at Nifirea's family potion store as they finished their conversation.

"We're here, my Grandma and Me can discuss the price we get everything loaded inside." Nifirea opened the door leading into the back of the store, immediately Nifirea noted that it was a good thing they just got fresh ingredients, because the store had been ransacked, most of the stock were smashed to pieces on the ground in a indiscriminate mix while various crates, barrels and pieces of furniture were all smashed to pieces. "What the...?" Instinctively, Nifirea went behind the counter and examined the sacks where they kept their coin. Nothing was missing by the looks of things, though it seemed that the sacks were the victims of the violence that hit this place, having ripped open and had their shiny guts spilled over the floor. "What hit this place? How long were we gone?"

Nabe, who was still silent, pushed the group and panicking alchemist away from the front of the shop and stared intently at the door leading outside. Creaking open, the door gave way to a short figure wearing a cloak, who slowly walked into the store.

"Finally! I've been waiting for you people for days!" The young lady pulled down her hood to reveal the smirking face of a orange haired girl. "What on Earth have you people been doing all of this time?"

"Did you do this?" Peter asked accusingly drawing his sword.

"Yes actually. I got quite bored waiting for you people to return after all." Clementine replied without a shred of remorse in her voice.

"And what do you want with us?" Peter asked noting that Dyne was at his side and Lukrut got his bow ready.

"You? Oh I suspect I might get some joy out of teasing you for a bit. But the one I really want is the little boy over there." Clementine replied with a shrug of her shoulders.

"And what do you want with me?" Nifirea asked glaring angrily at Clementine.

"Oh me and my business partner over there want some help with a little joint venture we have in the works." Clementine explained gesturing to Khajit who entered the shop through the same door that the group had. "Basically, he wants to take over this city." To Clementine's overly casual explanation Dyne pushed Nifirea into the center of the group and Ninya readied the staff to cast a spell. "Towards that end we need to use this." Clementine held out a single finger on the end of which was a mass of silver string decorated with numerous jewels.

"What is that and why do you need me to use it?" Nifirea asked pointing between Lukrut and Peter.

"This is called the Crown of Wisdom. It grants whoever wears it a immense amount of magical power in exchange for their mind and free will, then it kills you when someone tries to remove it." Clementine explained as she began rapidly twirling the crown around her finger. The two close combat types made a effort to block Nifirea and Ninya from Clementine and Khajit.

"Stop wasting time Clementine, just kill them and lets move on with our plan." Khajit stated rolling his eyes. "You already cast a barrier on this place right Khaji-tan? So I should be able to have as much fun as I want!" Clementine stated a twisted look on her face.

"Does anyone know where Nabe went?" Lukrut quietly asked into Peter's ear, aiming over his captain's shoulder at Clementine.

"She must have gotten away in the confusion. If she can get to Kieran then these two are done!" Peter stated loudly, perhaps trying to encourage the two criminals to get away.

"Oi Clementine. Back up's coming kill them already." Khajit barked, the purple of barrier magic laced with necromancy blocking Dyne's mace strike.

"Oi oi so pushy." Having put her enemy on guard by now, Clementine leaped through the air both of her blades ready to stab Peter and Lukrut.

Alas it was not meant to be. Just as Clementine was through the air, Nabe's golem horse was thrown through the wall of the potions shop and landed on the serial killer in question. The four adventurer's, alchemist and even the rogue necromancer all looked through the hole in the wall to see the monk woman who was clapping her hands together as if brushing dust off of them.

"This is going to be complicated." Khajit noticed cocking one brow in suspicion.

* * *

Kieran was just about at the end of his rope with this adventurer business, he has been doubted, harassed, humiliated and given busy work for days now, and he had to pay for the privilege. He intended to take the cash he earned from adventuring, minus the money he had to spend on getting portrait of the Hamster magicked, and go back to Nazarick where he was going to rip the arms off of something and beat it to death with them. Firstly he needed to collect his silent monk from the alchemist.

"Oi you!" The hoarse voice of someone in a exceptionally foul mood sounded aimed in Kieran's direction.

"I don't have time for this." Kieran stated rolling his eyes as he walked passed the irate person.

"Are you the one who snatched up my grandson for the past week?" The lady asked sounding rather irate.

"Probably." The invisible green that had been sitting on Kieran's shoulder filled him in on the elderly alchemist. "My partner is at your shop with the others and your grandson, collecting our payment."

"What have you people been doing for the past week anyway?" Lizzie asked sounding more irate then she had before.

"Well... there was the troll, the ogres, the goblins, the Treant, the Hamster over there..." Kieran gestured to the 'Wise King of the Forest' causing Lizzie to go wide eyed. "I got into a argument with my sisters..."

"I get it you were busy! Heash." Lizzie stated running a hand through sweaty hair. "Come on, my shop's this way." Lizzie explained gesturing for Kieran to follow her.

* * *

Who exactly were these people? That is the thought that went through Khajit's mind. Four Iron Plates and a Copper, that was fighting on the same level as a adamantine warrior and a mythril level sorcerer. If these people could fight like this they certainly wouldn't be kept at Iron plate, their armor and weapons weren't iron plate level either, much closer to the kind equipped to the Slane Theocracy's rank and file. They were using some kind of martial art, one that disabled the limits on the human body, while the copper plate was using some kind of magic to keep such a strenuous martial art from ripping the flesh from their bones. The Copper plate was the key, a refugee from the Slane Theocracy who had stolen these arms and armor and given them to these adventurers in exchange for protecting her, if this is what he can expect, he'd need to apply a bit more force with abducting their meal ticket. Thus Khajit took out the purple orb in his robe and readied his secret weapon.

For the third time in a row, Clementine found her dagger blocked by the leader of the adventurer group's blade. The blade of definitely well made, thus far the only evidence that the blade had been struck by a orichalcum dagger were the three holes cut into the blade. It didn't even break when he used the weapon as a lever to hurl Clementine, a adamantine level warrior off of him. Fortunately that was all that he could do with it. As a dedicated rogue Clementine knew that the best defense that she could ask for was to simply not get hit by the opposition, and towards that end made frequent use of physical boost and evasion oriented martial arts. Clementine knew all that all her opponent had to was land a single scratch on her and the poison dripping from the blade would do the rest, but even with the archer shooting bolts of lightning at her, the druid growing vines at her feet, the mage shooting balls of fire, they weren't hitting her. The only one who managed to do some damage was when that monk threw the horse through the building and it landed on her. They were so stunned by such a ridiculous sight that Khajit was able to seize the initiative and healed Clementine who was now toying with them, the monk in turn appeared content to sit out the fight having merely brought it out into somewhere everyone could move easier. However this was not without good reason, whenever Clementine did succeed in her on going quest to land a strike fatal or otherwise on the adventurer's the monk would utilize Ki and high speed movement to rush in, heal the group of their injuries, and then zoom back out. Clementine in turn made the effort to get to Nabe, but between the interfering adventurers and the agile monk she was plum out of luck.

"What a stubborn bunch you are, I'm really going to enjoy picking all of you apart piece by piece!" Clementine's dissatisfied voice was clashing with a excited psychotic grin on her face.

"Quit screwing around Clementine!" Khajit sounded with Ninya's fire balls continuously, harmlessly dissipating on his purple magic barrier. "The town guard will be here soon!" As will patrolling adventurer's, and Khajit doubted that they would take kindly to the woman whose been making decorations out of their slain comrades plates and her accomplice. "Grab the brat so that we can get out of here already!" As Khajit said that, two shadows appeared above the town. They had been disguised by Illusion magic as clouds, a hidden trump card if all else failed, two dragons composed entirely out of human bones, constructed by Khajit with the magic symbols of poison and rain etched into their bodies. One of the bone dragons fell from the sky and landed on top of the alchemy shop, reaching down and grabbing Nifirea who was being guarded by Dyne.

"Oh no you don't!" Dyne used his staff club to loose a series of vines from the ground and wrap around the fore arm of the bony beast. Said plants died immediately, the combination of negative energy and poison like mist coming off of the dragon rotted them to bits, Nifirea was lucky that Khajit needed him alive otherwise he would have shared their fate. However his luck ended there.

"Let... Go... Of... MEEE!" Nifirea shouted struggling to escape the grasp of the huge undead.

"Not likely brat. Clementine! The Crown of Wisdom!" Clementine smiled sickly. She jumped into the air, off of a nearby light post, and sailed over the adventurers onto the body of the bone dragon, removing the crown from the pocket of her cloak, Clementine placed the high tier magic item in question on to the head of Nifirea, who had the light drain from his face from it's effect reducing him to what was essentially a human doll.

"Alright now, that we have our puppet, lets raise our army." Khajit raised the purple orb into the air and it shone brightly like a star in the night sky, down below, the largest graveyard on the continent, boney, decayed hands ripped themselves free of the earth below and started pulling their rotten husks free of their graves. Additionally, the clouds in the sky started to turn green as the graveyard had poison rain down upon it, the poison acting as steroids to the undead monsters. "Rise my army of the dead! Your king, lord and Master beckens you to lay waste to these...!" And the Necromancer rambled on like that for a little while.

On the ground though, the five adventurers could only stare up in the sky and grit their teeth as the mad person rambled on about the genius of his plan.

"This is getting bad!" Peter stated aware of the basics of the undead and listening on as Khajit gloated about his plan.

"So if I understand what's going on here..." Peter spun around to see Kieran and Lizzie, the latter of whom was mourning the lost of her alchemy shop, who had just arrived. "That guy is trying to turn the people of this city into a army of undead right?"

"Ahh... there's a few more details then that..."


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's Note** : This was a close one, working down to the wire to get this down I hope you all appreciate this, Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 14: Humiliation and Death

Khajit had done it, his plan that he had started since he was a child had finally bore fruit. One day, he had got home late after playing the field, and he was greeted by the sight of his mother's corpse on the ground. The priests said that she had died of fever, that had they been able to get to her sooner her illness could have been treated and her life spared, in other words as the one who left her alone in the house, the blame for his mother's death rested squarely on Khajit's shoulders. Naturally the young boy begged for the priests to revive his mother, but they would not, his family was quite poor and the raise dead spell was quite expensive. So he researched how to do it himself, studied every tome he could, but he discovered that he could not, her life force was not great enough to survive something like being brought back from the dead. But one day while searching through the deepest darkest archives, he found a dark relic one which granted he who wielded it immense necromantic power, and which taught him how to achieve his goals. Through the immortality of the undead, he could live long enough to develop the magic that he needed, if he could turn himself into a elder lich, he could obtain the power and knowledge he needed. The road to his goal was long and hard, lacking the power he needed, he had to rely on the spiral of death, of making as many undead as possible and then reaping their necromantic power for himself. Now that he had met Clementine and obtained one of the legendary artifacts of the Slane Theocracy, and acquired a pawn with the power to use it, Khajit could finally obtain his goals.

"Ah Khaji-tan, what is that?"

To Clementine's question, the pair looked over to the side to see a flaming wheel sailing through the air coming right at them. Before Khajit could react, the wheel of fire began tearing through their bone dragon mount, setting the whole thing on fire as it went, sending the trio plummeting towards the ground in the graveyard.

"DAMN IT!"

Khajit cast a fly spell that stopped him from hitting the ground, Clementine made use of a martial art to break her fall, and then caught Nifirea before he could hit the ground and most likely die, he was still their lynch pin after all, even if one of their two bone dragons had been taken out by that fire wheel. Speaking of said mass of fire came down in the middle of the Graveyard that Khajit had used that bone dragon to coat in poison. The blade ignited the highly flammable liquid and set the entire graveyard ablaze, and every thing trying to climb out of it found itself roasted in it's womb.

"Wow, wow, what terrifying aim, he took out both the bone dragon and the army at the same time." Clementine was smiling, but really she was panicking. She needed a strong ally to survive the Slane Theocracy hunting her, and Khajit was meant to be that, now his empire was destroyed and she was to be hunted. The puny adventurers she had been hunting up until now, she could take a whole army of them easy. But the wizard who threw that fire ball on the other hand, Dragons are immune to anything below the sixth tier. For a magic caster to take down a dragon in one shot... "Eh?" What was a sword doing in the middle of a graveyard? It wasn't like Khajit was arming his undead, nor were they buried with any weapons. Even if they were who would leave such a ornate looking weapon, in a graveyard. Clementine sense that it glowed with power, was it the legendary weapon of some famous hero? Thinking that she might be able to defend herself from that wizard using that legendary sword, Clementine immediately pulled it out of the ground. "HYAAAAHHHH!" Immediately Clementine fell to the ground rolling in pain, looking down at her arm she saw the flesh had been scorched off her arm leaving behind the bone. This was such a high level item that not even she, who had broken into the realm of heroes, couldn't even wield, more importantly then that, it was also a fire weapon. "Ah-ah-ah Sword! Someone... beat that dragon... by throwing a magic sword at it!?"

* * *

A loud boom echoed throughout the landscape as something within E-Rantle was shot through the air like a missile and landed in the graveyard with a loud crash. Kieran stepped on a random bit of garbage and produced a satisfying crunch beneath his boot, quickly reclaiming his other sword in the process and finding Nifirea as well.

"Alright now what to do with you." Kieran pulled out a message scroll and threw it up into the air, the scroll incinerated and produced a crystal mirror in the process through which Kieran made contact with Koriander. "Oi you said you wanted this right?" Kieran asked picking Nifirea up by the scruff of his neck and holding him in front of the mirror.

"The little alchemist boy with the rare talent right?" Koriander looked lopsidedly at the young man who had become a slave to the Crown of Wisdom. "What's that on his head?"

"Something that fries the brain and gives high magical ability in exchange." Kieran explained making little else than a educated guess.

"How do you figure that?" Koriander asked, unable to do an item assessment from the other side of a crystal mirror.

"For one thing as soon as they put this thing on him a huge army of undead appeared from the graveyard. For another I'm fairly certain I'm choking him and he's not complaining." Kieran explained dropping the brain dead child in question on the ground before he moved on. "What do yah want me to do with him?"

"Hmm. Send him my way and I'll see what can be salvaged." Koriander stated waving Kieran off.

"Good to know. Hamster!" To Kieran's call, the Hamster rushed through the flames to Kieran's side.

"Yes Milord?"

"Take this to the building of ruin." Kieran stated throwing Nifirea at the giant hamster who deftly caught him.

"Right away milord." At once the Hamster took Nifirea and bolted back through the forest, now Kieran could focus on hunting down Khajit, and as it so happened Kieran could spot his other dragon flying away from the graveyard.

"Hello misplaced aggression." Kieran stated smirking knowingly.

* * *

How had it all happened like this? Khajit was so close to achieving his goals, but it all fell apart. He lost his pawn, his army was on fire below him, at least he thought it was. Looking down, the raging inferno that had consumed the graveyard had been extinguished in a instant, not that it did him any good, his army was ash by now, not even the poison he had flooded the graveyard with could revive a giant pile of ashes.

"What happened?" A confused Khajit asked staring down in shock at the remnants of his army.

"That would be my fault." Khajit straightened out and turned around to face a black clad knight who was sitting on the base of the bone dragon's tail. "A huge amount of wind pressure tends to be created whenever I go rocketing off through the air, so that probably put out the fires."

"W-Who are you?" Khajit asked looking wide eyed and terrified.

"I'm the guy here to kill you." Saying that, Kieran slashed his sword again and chopped the wings off of the bone dragon in a wave of fire.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? YOU'LL KILL US BOTH!" Khajit shrieked in mortal terror.

"You don't know me very well do you?" The giant mass of bone, warrior and Necromancer all fell out of the sky at the same time and the Bone Dragon shattered on the ground. Khajit was subsequently forced to crawl out of the pile of bones with several bones that didn't belong to him sticking out of his body and several more that did belong to him shattered into tiny pieces. "Wow you got hit hard eh?" Kieran stated in a joking voice, circling around the broken body of the necromancer and leveling his blade around his head. "Here, lemme get that for you." In one smooth motion, Kieran took the head of the Necromancer clean off of his shoulders and caught it with his other hand.

* * *

To summarize the night, Kieran had managed to exterminate a army of undead, killed the necromancer who raised them, and the serial killer who had been hunting adventurers throughout the city, on top of exterminating the Great Tree of Evil, the Giant of the East, and subduing the Wise King of the Forest, Kieran had wracked up a record breaking number and quality of achievements, to the point to the fact that he was being considered for the nigh legendary rank of Adamantite plate. This wasn't a adamantite plate Kieran had around his neck right now, but rather a mithril plate, for Mithril, by no means cheap, was by far more readily available then adamantite. Kieran accepted the fact and moved on with his plans, preparing to boast Balloma from the privacy of his magically warded campground inside of the forest of Tob.

"Oh sister dear, I believe you had a request for me earlier on." Kieran stated smirking as he looked at his mythril plate.

"It will have to wait. Something has come up." Balloma stated as she looked through one of her reports from the greens.

"Now what is so important that it takes precedence over my gloating?"

"Shalltear has gone missing." Balloma stated narrowing a glare at Kieran.

"The last time I saw her I sent her to chase after some thugs. These greens here were with her and are only just now reporting back to me on the matter." Balloma stated gesturing to one of the greens next to her.

* * *

Shalltear was riding through the forest on the back of a vampiric wolf, following behind her were several giant spiders glowing with the subtle hint of magical power, carrying on top of them vampire brides and dragging a dried log like object behind them. The group stopped behind a tree line on the other side they could see two men holding lanterns outside of a cavern entrance.

"Bring him over." At once one of the Vampire brides dragged over the object they had been dragging behind them, a dried, desiccated vaguely vampire like corpse. "Is this you guy's hideout." The head made a creaking noise as it turned to look at the cave before them, then that noise continued as it looked back at Shalltear, followed shortly thereafter by the former leader of the thugs nodding his head. "Excellent. Slash!" At once the green minion in question appeared at Shalltear's side. "Take your greens and scout them out, while you're at it seal off any means of escape that you find."

At once the green turned invisible again and made their way down to the entrance, a single blow to the back of the neck left the two men unconscious, followed shortly thereafter by a pair of spiders webbing the men and dragging them off, snacks for Shalltear to enjoy later. And while preserving leftovers for later on appealed to Shalltear greatly as a vampire she was still suppose to collect information.

"Let's see if we can have some fun with them." Turning around Shalltear picked up the newly turned vampire she made earlier in the evening. "Go and inform your subordinates that they have some guests."

The lesser vampire creaked as he bowed to Shalltear, before he walked inside of the cavern. Lesser vampires, as their names implied, were the weakest among the vampire ranks, several times weaker then regular humans, the total loss of all bodily fluids of a newly turned vampire makes them extremely fragile and does horrific things to their agility. But that changes once they manage to get something to eat, once they're started to feed they accumulate the life force of their victims, the more that they feed the stronger that they grow. Making up for their lack of physical strength near the beginning, they possessed stealth based martial arts that allow them to hide in shadows and easily jump unsuspecting prey. For instance.

"You've got any three's?" One individual asked the man sitting across a table from him.

"Hang on..." The other man had a much larger hand then his opponent so he had to take a minuet to check each individual card. "Go Fish." Looking up from his hand, the man saw that his opponent had suddenly disappeared. "Oi where did you go?" The man, headless of his opponent's fate, leaned over the table to discover that he had apparently left his shadow behind, he didn't even get the chance to ponder the strangeness of the situation, and after that the vampire was done hiding.

"Hey it's the captain!"

"Does he look funny to you guys?"

The enemy was at first ignorant to their leader's change in allegiance, then they saw him rip the throats from their comrades with his teeth. Naturally, their first instinct was to flee for safety, hidden passages built into their base of operations for just such case scenario.

"What!?" Every passage way, whether it was the tunnels they dug, the existing mines and natural caverns, even the cracks that were too small for them to fit through, had all been sealed off by barrier magic.

"Unglass!" One of the men made it all the way to the store room, where the group's secret weapon took his breaks.

"What's going on? Why are you trying to get through the secret passage way?" The most recent recruit to the 'Death Spreading Brigade' was a legendary warrior known as 'Brain' Unglass, named so for being a genius swords man who fought with the great Gazef Strongoff nearly on par and came _that_ close to winning.

"A vampire has broken into the base and has slaughtered most of the men!"

"Oh really?" Brain smiled as he took out several potions which enhance strength, speed, stamina and rate of healing and drank them.

Yes Brain got paid as a mercenary, but coin was not his primary concern, if it was he would get work as a adventurer or a noble's bodyguard. No, this job was training, this particular job gave him the highest possible chance to fight against other humans, as the individual who had sacrificed everything for the path of the sword, to claim the title as the strongest sword's man in the world, he needed the chance to clash with opponents who are most likely to give him a challenge. Vampires normally weren't very high on his list of targets, but by the way he was reacting this seemed pretty serious. Brain went down to the tunnels where he saw his comrades had been systematically slaughtered, which was strange since a lesser vampire like this shouldn't have been able to do this much damage. Then he saw the monster in question disappear into the shadows.

"Stealth martial arts. That explains it!" Brain spread his feet and took on the Laido position. A circular field that was invisible to all but brain appeared around him, one of his three custom martial arts, field, which made him aware of everything within a three meter radius of himself, instantaneous flash, a high speed strike attack which made use of the Laido style, and the enhanced form of that god flash which cleaves through the enemy so fast that their blood doesn't even stick to the blade. The end result was natural.

"RAGGGHHH!" The Vampire's sneak attack was interrupted by a bisecting slash from the second greatest warrior on the continent which chopped him in two. Now that he had finished his opponent off Brain could launch a assessment of the situation.

"The captain?" Once the vampire was dead his appearance returned to his original human like form. "Looks like most of the others are dead too. I should just grab that other guy and see if another mercenary team will have us." Then Brain heard the click of shoes walking down the stone floor. "Show yourself!" Brain was greeted by the sight of Goblins, dozens upon dozens of goblins, many of them stacked upon one another, all of them appearing out of thin air. "Goblins... with stealth martial arts? Or is it magic?"

"Don't be ridiculous." Several of the goblins stepped aside to make room for a individual with a child like body. She was dressed fancily, like a noble woman, her clothing was blood red, which was appropriate, since thanks to the combination of her doll like features and malevolent aura she was clearly a vampire bride, low tier vampires created as the play things of other more powerful vampires. "This is the natural race skill of a Green Minion, invisibility."

"'Green Minion?'" Brain asked a questioning brow cocked.

"Ah, so that's what happened to the vampire I had created." Shalltear stated looking down at the pile of blood and body parts below her. Suddenly, all of the blood on the floor, and for that matter that which was still inside of Brains slain comrades, was drawn into the air and pooled into a sphere of blood.

"That sphere of blood there? Is that some kind of vampire ability?" Brain asked watching Shalltear's movements, waiting for her to enter his striking range.

"Oh it's close quarters combat eh? Alright I'll play along." Shalltear stated as she began walking forward, and stepped onto the rim of Brain's 'field.'

A single moment later a loud clang noise not unlike metal clashing against metal echoed throughout the hideout, Brain's single hit sure fire kill attack had been stopped not by a weapon but a well manicured pinky nail.

"What the...?" Shalltear used that pinky to shove Brain backwards several feet.

"Has it sunk it yet?" Shalltear asked with a smile on her face. "I hope you plan on taking this seriously now." To defeat Strongoff, who used powerful stat enhancing high stamina consuming techniques to augment his strikes with as much power as possible followed up by spitting out as many hits as possible, Brain had chosen the power of a rogue, to dodge those powerful strikes and then cut Gazef down when his stamina was exhausted. But that was useless here. Brain let loose with a flurry of strikes now that his sure fire kill had been blocked, while powerful that single strike technique was predictable and easy to block with a weapon of sufficient strength, what he needed was unpredictability, to strike as often and from as many different angles as possible. But it was no use, every blow was countered with minimal effort. "Ah, there it is."

"Monster..." Indeed, it had finally sunk in, Brain and his opponent were on completely different levels from one another. "HYAAAHAHA!" Brain immediately ran away, but to his horror the secret passage ways had been cut off.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA! So it's a Game of Tag now eh?" Spinning around, Brain was greeted by a very different creature from before. Shalltear might even be considered as cute to most people. Not now, now she was best summarized as a lamprey with legs.

"A True Vampire?" Unlike the humans suffering from a disease Brain had fought with up until now, Shalltear is what's commonly known as a true ancestor, the descendants of the god of death who mated with other creatures of darkness to produce a horror the likes of which the world has never known. The only reason why Shalltear looked the way she did normally was because of Koriander's skill with glamour charms. Brain's train of thought was suddenly cut off as Shalltear bit into his neck.

* * *

"Take these back to Nazarick and give them to Demiurge." Shalltear instructed gesturing to the cocooned mass of body parts and newly turned vampires. Slash gave her a salute before having his spider take off.

* * *

"And that was the last we saw of her, she hasn't reported over here yet and she hasn't showed up at Nazarick yet." Balloma explained having just relayed Slash's story. "You're the adventurer, I assume that if she does show her head you'd be the first of the three of us to find her."

Kieran nodded his head in agreement.

"I'll head to the Guild and look for reports of a rampaging vampire."

* * *

 **Review Section** :

Pervy Sage Chuck: Yes and no, I plan on doing a lot the same way but I also plan on putting my own twist on it along the way. Khajit was flying over the graveyard at the time on the back of the bone dragon.


	15. Chapter 15

**Author's Note** : No reviews Eh? That's disappointing. No Matter. Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy!

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Chapter 15: Fool's Rush In

When Kieran re-entered the adventurer's guild and everyone took notice, Khajit's and Clementine's rampages had taken notice and hit them hard, thanks to Clementine the highest ranked adventurer's in the city were mythril plates, and Kieran had killed her without even noticing. By the time the Adventurer's could react to news of a massive army of the undead and a pair of huge skeletal monsters raining poison down from the sky Kieran had already slaughtered the lot of them in a fiery hell. Kieran ignored the stares they gave him, right now the only thing he was concerned with was finding Shalltear, and towards this end he walked up to the mission board and took a look through it for any reference to the half pint vampire.

"Mister Ooal Gown." Kieran turned his head to look at the receptionist. "Your reward, for the previous incident." Kieran picked up the sack the receptionist gave him and felt a fair amount of heft to it. "Approximately 1000 skeletons worth 3 coppers each, 2 bone dragons enhanced by magic, worth 10 gold each, 8 members of Zuranon worth 50 silver each, the 40 gold bounty for the 'plate hunter' serial killer plus your commission from Mr. Nifirea, worth 4 gold." To equal a total of 100 gold. The receptionist, in all of her years of working here, has never handed over so much gold in one sitting to anybody. Perhaps more shocking than that is that Kieran seemed to dismiss the ludicrous amount of gold he pocketed and returned to investigating the notice board. "Am I to assume that you're looking for more missions to complete?" The receptionist looked troubled with what she was seeing.

"How often is this thing updated with requests?" Kieran asked glaring at the notice.

"We update it every day in the morning. Once a request is received it takes about a day to process and the next morning it is posted." The receptionist replied trying to maintain a straight face to Kieran's prodding. So he wasn't getting any leads on Shalltear from here today, still there was the possibility that she would try to contact him directly. "Inform Nabe when a request for me comes in, she will contact me immediately." Saying that Kieran left for the front door.

"Ah Sir Kieran, it's good to see you here." Pluton Ainzach the Adventurer's Guild Master Kieran recognized from around the guild hall, the skinny tooth pick in a robe and the oversize greased pig on the other hand he didn't know about until the green on his shoulder identified them as Theo Rakheshir the head of E-Rantle's Magician's guild Panasolei Gruze E-Rantle's mayor respectively. "Something has come up, we need to gather all of our adventurers mythril rank and above."

"Does this have anything to do with a attack on a criminal hideout?" To Kieran's question, the three men had a shocked and horrified look on their faces.

"Don't look so surprised I have my own contacts too, I'll be over there when the meeting starts." With that, the guild cleaned out of the main dining area, in place of it's patrons were Kieran, the Guild leaders, the Mayor's and three men, all mythril plates the leaders of the teams Kralga, Sky Wolf and Rainbow.

"The information I am about to share with all of you is to be considered top secret." Pluton stated his back to the four adventurers. "Last night, while on a routine bandit clearing mission, a group of adventurer's came into contact with a vampire who was in the area, and only one survived the encounter." Towards this end the familiar form of Brita entered the guild hall, called over by the Guild master.

"Thank you for your potion, Master Kieran." The Grateful iron plate, bowed her head deeply to Kieran. "That healing potion you gave me saved me."

"Correct. But Brita would you like to fill in our esteemed mythril plates on the rest of the details?" Pluton asked gesturing for Brita to continue.

"Right, after we got the co-ordinates for Death Spreading Brigades base of operations..."

* * *

They had received a job to deal with a group of bandits who had been raiding the caravans of nobles and merchants. As Brita understood it, these thugs were veterans of the annual wars with the empire, unable to feed themselves when they returned home they usually took their kingdom issued weapons and turned to theft to get by, usually honing their fighting abilities while they were at it. However ironically it was usually degenerates such as these who the kingdom turned to when the annual wars came up, for properly trained warriors was a rarity in the Kingdom. Still, right now they were doing more harm than good, and therefore they needed to go. Arriving at the predicted base of operations of the Death Spreading brigade, Brita and company were greeted by the sight of terrifying monster, hunched over a mass of webbing and eating something that was inside, it was some kind of vaguely lamprey like creature, one that possessed arms and legs, as well as white hair.

"OOOHHH! SECONDS!" They knew what that meant.

The group got out their weapons, coated their blades in silver potion granting them anti-undead and anti-demonic properties and aimed them at Shalltear who crouched like a wild cat before springing into action. One of the adventurers attempted to decapitate the in coming vampire with his blade, Shalltear instead bit the blade in half and went straight for the man's throat, draining his body dry.

"The Silver blade coating has no effect!?"

"HAHAHAHA!" Shalltear's natural necromantic energies went to work, a fraction of the sphere of blood above her head shot into the desecrated corpses of the two people she had just fed on. The mummified bodies creaked to life who followed the same course of action Shalltear had before form, crouching down on all fours though they weren't attacking yet, their bodies mutated horrifically sprouting sharkish teeth as all of their hair fell out.

"Oh god!"

The Two vampires jumped at them, this time their weapons did hurt them, but of course Shalltear didn't reanimate them to kill the puny little adventurers. What she needed was a distraction, one which allowed her to go up into the trees and drop in on them from behind. In one swift motion Shalltear decapitated one of the adventurers, the sound of his head being pulverized prompted the two still in the front to look behind them, which gave the two vampires out front the chance to eliminate one of the two adventurers. Shalltear called off her two minions, she intended to savor her victim's fear before going for the kill strike.

"HYAAH!"

Brita swung her sword at Shalltear, who caught it between two of her finger tips and shattered it, deprived of her weapon Brita grabbed the first thing she could, the bottle on the slot on her waist filled with red potion, and threw it at the rampaging vampire, shattering on contact with her hand, spilt all over it and burning the flesh there in. That seemed to snap Shalltear out of her revelry, picking up the broken bottle, Shalltear instantly turned back to her regular form, recognizing the healing potion created by her masters. Brita however realized that Shalltear was distracted and hence took off into the woods.

"Grab her." On Shalltear's orders, the two lesser vampires chased the last surviving adventurer down and dragged her back to Shalltear kicking and screaming.

* * *

"I don't know why she choose to spare me, I can't remember, ." Brita was shaking in her boots, quaking with fear. "Also, point of interest, I quit." Brita took her plate off and left it on the table. "I'm not getting involved with anymore monsters like that. Good luck."

Kieran thought about it for a moment. Shalltear's actions were unusual, not the blatant disregard for human life and constant preference for whole sale slaughter, that was normal, but rather the fact that she stopped and in the process let a potential leak of information reach the opposition. The answer was obvious: the healing potion, why else would one of them give this woman a healing potion if they didn't want her to live, it wasn't like they were too lazy to do some basic information gathering themselves after all.

"Shit." Kieran muttered under his breath.

"Kieran do you know this vampire?" Pluton asked cocking a brow suspiciously at Kieran. It was a reasonable question to ask, Shalltear clearly knows about the super rare potion that only Kieran and his siblings have access to, he'd have to do some story weaving.

"Her name's Carmilla, she's a vampire, part of a larger alliance of the demonic, damned and undead. She led the attack on a castle, killing every person who lived inside of it." Kieran explained in a matter of fact like fashion.

"Sounds terrifying. Where was this?" Which was another way of asking where Kieran came from, since he knew which castle had been destroyed by this 'Carmilla' then it may provide more information towards that end.

"Cold and sparsely populated, you'll receive no more then this." Kieran stated his voice cold and uncompromising.

"Surely you don't expect us to be satisfied with that?" Igvarge, leader of the Mythril team Kralgra, asked a look of disbelief on his face. "You come out of no where, just in time to squash a undead invasion and the serial killer who has been picking us off." Igvarge scratched his chin as he pondered the situation. "Mighty convenient that as a result of that the guild is now desperate to fill it's upper ranks isn't? How did you kill her again?"

"Is that a fact? Lemme waylay your concerns by telling you a little bit about my family. My sister Koriander is currently living inside of the Great Forest of Tob making things not too different from that healing potion which save our friend's life. My other sister Balloma is on her way to the capital to start selling these things. In doing so we will create a trail, for when one of these monsters find a touch of home and track it back to us, we will be ready for them, when they pop their heads out of hiding, we will part them from their necks." Kieran stated glaring his senior down.

"So you're using us as bait?" Igvarge asked oddly donning a cocky smile.

"I'm using the items my sisters sell to you as bait. You will encounter these creatures, as they mean all of us harm, and it is your job to find them before they can do so." Then Kieran gestured to the door, where Britta had left for parts unknown. "Ask her if you want our stuff or not."

"We understand your goals but not your methods. Fufufufu." Kieran turned to face the giant greased pig in the room. "If you're dropping clues about where you came from then why not release your country of origin and other information? Fufufufu." Panazole asked looking confused.

"A item's point of origin is much easier to track then that of a piece of information, and the latter obscures the results of the first. If someone does come to us with proof of one of these monsters running around, then I don't want to waste time if they turn out to try to manipulate us with our own information. I know of your nobles: the lot of you willfully send your best people to die at the hands of your enemies for having the gall to be better liked then you. I will never be placed under the yoke of someone who considers me disposable: am I understood?"

"We understand your feelings completely." Pluton had a deep and sorrowful look in his eyes. "People higher adventurers because they think of us as disposable." The Guild master closed his eyes and breathed in through his nose. "What can you tell us about Carmilla." Good, they've stopped trying to pry into his personal life, that was convenient.

"A king once sent a hundred men after her. She sent him a hundred vampires back. The more people we send, the more people that will die, the stronger that she will become in the process, the more pests we'll have to put down. What you need is one person who is capable of exceeding the power of a army."

"Huff." Kieran turned to look a Igvarge. "You mean you? Please. Do you honestly think we believe this is all a coincidence, that you show up in time just when a necromancer attacks the city and now this vampire?" Ah yes. This one is going to be trouble.

"Enough Igvarge!" Pluton had gotten enraged by Igvarge's remarks. "The nobility are not the only one's who think of adventurer's as being disposable." Kieran's green relayed more information about Igvarge, about how he considers himself the next legendary hero in the making, how he uses his so called comrades as little more than disposable meat shields to hide behind monster attacks. In other words, he was irredeemably worthless, in terms of personality, fighting ability or general loyalty. "If you don't remain quiet then you will be excused. What do you propose Kieran?" Now was the time to play Kieran's negotiation trump card.

"For starters, striking as soon as possible with as few people as possible, she'll be weakened under sunlight. But when the sun goes down, she'll come looking for the source of that potion, and she'll track Brita right to this city. Fortunately, we have a secret weapon." Kieran removed from his pocket a blue crystal, one of the items they apparently took off of the members of the Slane Theocracy, but according to Koriander it's power was spectacular enough to scare 'those losers' into submission. "I'll open up by dropping this on her. That'll do some damage."

"What is it?" Pluton asked looking at the crystal sideways.

"And ruin the surprise? Go ahead take a guess." Kieran asked deeply amused.

"I don't need a guess." Theo stated proudly as he held out his hand and formed magic circle and used it to shine a light on the crystal. "Whaaa!?" The Magician guild master gasp in shock, he had to perform a second take with his item assessment spell.

"What is it Theo?" Pluton asked looking confused.

"This... This is a spell of the eighth tier! This is a spell sealing crystal of the Eighth Tier!" Theo exclaimed shocked plastered across his face, at once, his sense of reason lost, Theo began licking the crystal and rubbed it against his cheek.

"Enough!" Pluton smacked his old friend across the back of his head and separated him from Kieran's crystal. "If it's that important then you should treat it with more respect!" Pluton took out a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his friend's drool off of the crystal. "Are you sure this will be enough?"

"I'm sure I'm going to be enough, this is insurance." Kieran stated putting his crystal away again.

"Ridiculous!" Igvarge snapped thoroughly enraged. "Do you honestly expect me to believe that you can defeat a monster that can crush an entire army by herself with just you and your mage!?"

"No actually I'm leaving her behind." Kieran replied shrugging his shoulders. "I said I was going to work with the bare minimum of people necessary and I meant it."

"Just how greedy are you? Do you honestly think that we are just going to let you do this by yourself?" Igvarge was now standing, his hands firmly slapped down against the table as he attempted to loom above Kieran.

"It is because I value Nabe that I do not wish to kill her." That took Igvarge back a bit.

"Surprised? You know already that Carmilla can turn those she has slain into more vampires to serve her. If you come with she will turn you, and then I will have to kill you." Not a threat, not a demand, simply a cold declaration of fact with a reasonable explanation to go with it.

"I'm out." The leader of Rainbow stated holding up the palms of his hands in surrender, prompting the other team leaders to nod their heads. "You two can go and throw each other on the fangs of that vampire."

"Since you're leaving anyway I have a job for you." Pluton scribbled down a note and handed it over to the leader of Rainbow. "If Kieran and Igvarge san fail to defeat Carmilla, then the royal capital needs to be made aware of Carmilla's existence." Nodding his head, Rainbow's leader left immediately.

* * *

Kieran took the Golem horse into the forest, followed behind by the four members of Kralgra, before that is Kieran suddenly stopped.

"Oi, Black Knight, why are we stopping here?" While Igvarge asked that question, he didn't notice the white strand which had attached itself to his armor.

"It should become obvious in about a minuet." With that, the four members of Kralgra were ripped off of their horses and subjected to a strong poison that killed them instantly.

"Get those four back to Nazarick, they're suppose to be strong." One Green Minion gave a salute before he ran off into the tree tops and Kieran continued on his way to Shalltear's last known location.


	16. Chapter 16

**Author's Note** : Hmm. No Reviews, again. Disappointing, But on with the show. Read, _**Review**_ , Favorite and Enjoy!

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Chapter 16: The Calm of the Storm

It had taken a while to get here, they had to sail across the sea, and after that they had to travel into the continent on foot. Along the way they needed to negotiate their fair share of alliances, pledging their support to the Baharuth Empire with the annual war with their neighbors the Re-Estize kingdom. Of Course, the Baharuth empire didn't quite know who they were making their alliance with when it happened, nor would they care soon enough. Still, now that they had secured their borders against the darkness the time had come for them to expand upon them, acquire additional resources needed to finally banish the blighted abominations from their lands once and for all. Right now they were in the process of performing the same operation they had upon entering Baharuth, spread the golden as far as possible, affect the ruling body of the nation, take control, have them pledge their resources to their cause, move on to the next. In this case the next was Re-Estize, hence why they were cutting through the Katze plains on their way to that piece of prime real estate that can fend off attacks from all sides with ease.

"Ah Damnit!" The group of Shining Justice foot Soldiers cut through some shrubbery upon hearing that, through the bushes they saw the familiar looking form of a short person dressed in red clutching white locks. "I screwed up!"

They had a good idea who she was, rather there is no one in the entirety of the Shining Justice that didn't know who she was, leader of the Fallen Knights of the Overlord, last of the line of Cainabel, Lady of Crying Virgin and the Falling Blood, Shalltear Bloodfallen. There was no question it was her, but the next question then was what was she doing here, she and all of the other abominations working for the Overlord should still be on the 'Old World' it then occurred to them to simply ask her.

Shalltear had screwed up, she had screwed up big time. If this person was carrying around one of her master's health potions then both she and the group of individuals she just slaughtered must be of some significance to them. Shalltear needed to make up for this gratuitous error on her part post haste as soon as possible. It was in that moment that Shalltear realized that something was moving in the bushes.

"Show yourself!" The first to reveal itself was a armored horse, dressed in gold and a single horn sticking out of it's head.

In that moment several things happened at once, Shalltear had been riddled with confusion, trying to figure why that horse was dressed up as a unicorn, then wondering how a unicorn got onto the new world, finally realizing that she was under attack. A sound like deflating pig's bladder echoed as a wave of golden light emanated from the Unicorn altering the plant life into something far more pinkish, at the same time Shalltear produced a spear of light from her hand and threw it at the Unicorn, the two foes attacks struck each other at the same, killing the Unicorn though Shalltear's fate was much crueler.

* * *

After a couple hours trek, Kieran arrived at the area Brita recalled last seeing Shalltear, he had his doubts that this place could be considered a criminal hideout, the gigantic gaping hole in the ground made it somewhat conspicuous. Then again it probably wasn't like that when they were here as made evident by what was at the bottom of that hole.

"Yo Shalltear!" The young Vampiress didn't respond to Kieran's vocal prodding, he was about to slide down to confront her directly for her act of insubordination when he suddenly stopped and noticed something. "That smell, oddly sweet." Attracted by that familiar smell, Kieran began his investigation, Shalltear didn't look like she was going anywhere at the moment. "Hmm. Been a while since I've seen pink grass." Kieran trace the source of the smell to fragrant pink grass on the far side of the crater, which abruptly stopped at a huge mound of dirt likely kicked up when the crater was formed, and there he found something else too. "Hooves." From what kind of animal the prints came from was hard to tell aside from them being hoofed, but the presence of the distinctive bumps of horse shoe nails rapidly narrowed it down to two possibilities, after all Kieran and his siblings were raised to be weary of horse prints. "This could be bad." However much the three of them bickered, it was universally agreed that when faced with a common enemy they would cooperate as much as possible. Thus Kieran removed a message scroll from his pocket and threw it into the air, immediately producing a mental link with both Koriander and Balloma.

" _Did you find Shalltear yet?_ "

" _You lost a floor Guardian? HAHAHAHA!_ "

Kieran didn't have time for this.

"Horse prints." A strange silence appeared as the two women went silent.

" _DEMIURGE!_ "

* * *

Koriander and Demiurge arrived to the area with a squadron of the Dwelf Arcane warrior's, all of the Minions that had been trailing Kieran were sent back to Nazarick immediately, and the Dwelf's went to work digging out the mass of dirt eventually uncovering a sight that filled the group with mixed feelings of joy and dread. It was a dead Unicorn, the crest of the Shining Justice on it's side made the denizens of Nazarick just as happy as they were enraged.

"As the saying goes: the only good unicorn is a dead Unicorn." Then, Koriander turned to face Demiurge, a smile that barely contained the rage bubbling within her. "Go find me some good Unicorns, but no engaging them directly, I'd rather not lose anyone else today." Demiurge bowed and seemed to bolt away in a blur.

"I don't get it." Nifirea asked standing behind the pair of siblings. He was dressed in a mages robe and was carrying one of Koriander's staves, so she was serious about taking him as a apprentice. "Why are unicorns a bad thing?"

"Ask your girlfriend." Kieran stated in a cold and dismissive voice.

"They did that to Carne Village?" Nifirea asked sounding shocked.

"Someone who only listens to what other people tell him instead of going to find answers themselves would not understand the depths of our hatred for these abominations." Kieran picked up the Unicorn corpse by it's horn and held it in the air. "Tell me boy, does this match up with what you've been told about Unicorns?"

Nifirea had to squint his eyes for moment as he processed the new information. Since he was a child, he was told that Unicorns were creatures of incredible grace and Majesty, only willing to appear for the pure hearted, they served as a symbol for many for all that was right in the world, merely killing one is said to bring down a mighty curse from the gods. This one however was dressed for war, and that looked like dried blood on it's horn, like it had used it to gouge somebody.

"What did they do to you guys?" Nifirea asked staring in shock as Kieran carelessly dropped the corpse and it's helmet fell off it's head, proving that it's horn and helmet really were too separate things.

"Pay attention!" Kieran slammed his fist into the top of Nifirea's skull pushing his head down several inches. "Instead of being led by the nose again go out and find answer's for yourself you lazy bum!"

"Yes sir!" Nifirea, whom it should be noted was now bleeding from the skull, stated in a submissive voice.

"In either case that report should be coming in now." Koriander stated applying healing magic to Nifirea's head. True to Koriander's statement, Gnarl and Albedo climbed up from the bottom of the crater.

"It's not good, she's been transformed into a Dhampire." Albedo stated a vicious look on her face.

"A what?" Nifirea asked gaping in surprise.

"A human vampire hybrid Nifirea." Albedo explained in a lecturer's tone.

"Those exist?" Nifirea asked looking shocked.

"Well certain high tier vampires like Shalltear possess the ability to mate with other creatures." Koriander explained shrugging her shoulders.

"'Like Shalltear' so now she's something different then what she use to be?" Nifirea asked having bit down on the worm dangled in front of him.

"Brother, please coordinate with our sister on Unicorn hunting, I have to discuss some things with my apprentice without you smashing your fist into his head." Koriander stated taking Nifirea away. "There other ways of making a Dhampire. In this case it might be thought of as a downgrade though. Shalltear was originally a high tier vampire, a descendant of a god of darkness, but that Unicorn used it's power to turn her into a light aligned equivalent: a Dhampire."

"It's power?" Nifirea asked looking confused.

"What do you know about Unicorn's?" Koriander asked tilting her head.

"Well..." Nifirea had to think about it for a minuet, unless they actively tried to do people harm creatures weren't researched all that much. "They can only be ridden by virgins, and they also offer protection to virgins as well."

"So in other words you know next to nothing about them." Koriander shrugged her shoulders and sighed. "Where I come from, those things are responsible for a plague called the Golden."

"The Golden?" Nifirea asked looking confused. "I've heard of the Black Plague, but I never heard of a Golden plague."

"Oh if only it killed those it infected, that would be a much kinder fate." Koriander grabbed Nifirea around his shoulder and pointed down into the crater. "You're a clever boy who treats disease. Tell me, what are the symptoms of that young lady who is suffering from the Golden Plague?"

"Well..." Nifirea put his hand on his chin as he thought about it. "She isn't moving, even after Sir Kieran called out to her, and I already know that she's been turned into a light aligned creature... Is it similar to vampirism?" When someone is turned into a vampire they are often made to serve the individual who turned them, like a type of mind control, if Shalltear was stripped of her free will by that Unicorn, then when the force that was controlling her was killed when that Unicorn was killed, she was like a hammer that was abandoned by it's owner. "But if that's the case then how do we treat this? I assume you don't want to just leave her down there."

"That is something that my siblings should be deciding on right now." Towards that end Koriander led Nifirea back to where the others were having a conversation.

"Should we put the magic slugs on the open market?" Albedo asked her hand on her chin. "I'm not fond of giving those puffed up do gooders what they need are you?" Gnarl stated making the displeasure in his voice quite clear.

"Yes but we can use them to find them before they can get a foothold." Albedo explained in a sagely tone of voice.

"Our foothold isn't exactly secure either." Gnarl bit back his displeasure at the situation quite clear.

"Magic slugs?" Nifirea asked a confused look on his face.

"The unicorns eat them, absorb the frankly huge amount of magic they generate, and then fart them out as a gas that turns people when they breath it in." Koriander explained a amused look on her face.

"You mean to say that the Golden Plague is...?" Nifirea asked a disgusted look on his face.

"Proof that comedy and tragedy go together like peanut butter and jam? Yes. Yes it is." Koriander stated snickering at Nifirea's expense.

"Huu." Nifirea decided that his new employers had some strange enemies. "I thought you were trying to come up with a way to treat her: take it from the recently liberated but her's is not a fate I'd wish upon my worst enemy."

"In either case: we decided on a course of action but you might not like it." Kieran stated crossing his arms.

"Oh that does sound ominous." Koriander stated in a sarcastic tone of voice.

"Initially we thought of trying the same thing we did with these two, put her in enough agony until she snaps out of it." Kieran stated gesturing to Albedo and Gnarl.

"So it can be treated?" Nifirea asked looking curious, much to the displeasure of Kieran.

"Hmm. Yes and no, Albedo here was originally a succubus before that stuff turned her into a angel, now she's sort of a hybrid." Koriander explained gesturing to black wings. "Gnarl down there still needs a shave every once in a while too."

"Please don't remind me Mistress." Gnarl stated shivering in disgust.

"But for a masochist like Shalltear, her only hope is a hard reset." Kieran explained crossing his arms.

"I was afraid of that." Koriander stated letting out a sigh.

"Wha?" Nifirea asked taken aback in confusion.

"We have to kill her and then revive her." Koriander stated clearing up the confusion.

"Oh..." Nifirea stated clarified.

"I'll do it." Kieran stated rolling along his shoulders. "All of the floor Guardians have jobs already, so I'm the only one available."

"Does it not make more sense to call upon a few of the floor guardians for help?" Koriander asked tilting her head on the side.

"I already said that I'd kill her today, so taking too long is no good, I'm going to go back to Nazarick and grab my stuff before I come back here."

As if stopping Kieran, Koriander pulled out a wooden stick that had the words 'War God' Written on the side. More important then that though, she continued to pull out sticks and gave them to Kieran: 'Blasphemer,' 'Apollo,' 'Mijonir,' 'Aegis,' 'Kanshou and Bakuya,' 'Gram' followed shortly there after by what suspiciously looked like teeth, a belt full of hunting horns and a magic scroll. Similarly, Kieran touched a magic symbol on his armor and suddenly it disappeared, turned into three sticks alongside his two swords which read as 'Surtur' and two which both read as 'Salamander.'

"Good luck brother." Koriander stated taking the sticks that Kieran had given her. "You're gonna need it."

"I know." Towards that end, Kieran promptly sat down on the edge of the Crater and closed his red eyes as he began to meditate.

"Ah. Er. What's going on?" Nifirea asked looking confused.

"Run along now Nifirea, the battlefield is no place for valuable raw material such as yourself." Koriander stated using her hand to nudge Nifirea along. With that, the four of them left Kieran alone to meditate.

"Mistress Koriander, can Sir Kieran defeat Miss Shalltear?" Nifirea asked looking confused.

"Hmm. Let's see here." Koriander stated tapping her finger against her chin. "If I was a bookie, I'd say two to seven odds in Shalltear's favor." Koriander stated in a casual tone of voice, much to Nifirea's horror. "Is she that much stronger then Sir Kieran." Nifirea asked with a horrified look on his face. "They're about even in terms of overall abilities, the real issue here is a matter of compatibility." Koriander explained leading Nifirea to a magic circle. "Each of the three of us raised servants to fight the others, Shalltear was trained specifically to fight Kieran, Albedo was trained to beat Balloma at her own game, and Cocytus Kieran's right hand man was trained to take me down."

"Do... you guys not get along?" Nifirea asked shocked to learn about all of this blatant in fighting that happens between the three siblings.

"We squabble, as all siblings do, but we also compete with each other, find ways of improving upon each other. Settling for 'good enough' is what led to the downfall of your nation need I remind you." Koriander stated using the circle to send Albedo and Gnarl back to Nazarick. "Tell the others to stay in the area, flush out any over puffed do gooder's that you can find, but don't interfere with Kieran's and Shalltear's battle." One of the Dwelf's nodded. "Demiurge should be coordinating the hunt from Nazarick, but let him know that he isn't to face any Unicorns directly anyway." Though he should already be aware of that, and the dangers associated with breathing in the Golden Plague.

"Is Kieran going to be okay? The odd's seemed to be stacked against him." Nifirea commented looking back in the direction of the black warrior.

"Like I said, if I was a bookie I'd only look at their respective statistics and ability, but there is one key difference those do not take into account." As Koriander explained the situation, Kieran smiled in anticipation even with his eyes closed. "The difference in Tenacity, a lobotomized brat is no match for someone who lives for war."


	17. Chapter 17

**Author's Note** : No reviews eh, unfortunate, but I intend to do one more chapter before taking a break to plan things out, consider it a season long Hiatus. So Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy!

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Chapter 17: Death to Traitor's

Kieran had some preparations to complete before he would be taking on Shalltear. Firstly, he reached inside of his mouth and pulled out several false teeth, replacing them with the ones that he took from Koriander, then he picked up the scroll she gave him and threw it into the air, activating the magic within and coating his body with it's light for a few moments before it promptly disappeared. Now that the first step of his preparations were completed, Kieran needed to perform the second, the tattoo's all over his body glowing to reveal the images of five different kinds of dragons, glowing a green on his right arm, blue on his right leg, brown on his left leg, red on his left arm and yellow on his back as well as wrapping his entire body in a dark black aura. Next Kieran took one of the stick's Koriander had prepared for him, Blasphemer, and snapped it between his finger and his thumb. A mass of light covered his entire body and soon Kieran who had been dressed in a set of ordinary looking clothes was now clad in a set of armor. The armor wasn't exceptional looking by any means, it shined with chrome plating highlighting the image of a fallen angel pinned to the ground with a sword. With his armor equipped Kieran took the next stick out, Aegis, and snapped it between his fingers, producing a arm guard that also doubled as a sheathed sword. Pulling the notched sword from it's sheath Kieran immediately swung the sword down through the air.

"I see. So unless you're the one who's attacked you won't act eh? In that case I'm going to have to ask that you wait a while then."

Saying that, Kieran began walking around the crater, swinging the sword which produced no sound with practiced disciplined ease, far different from his usual strikes with his Salamander Swords which more crushed and burned rather then slashed. Having circled the entire crater like that, Kieran put the sword away only to take out another stick, Gram, and snapped it too, producing a huge great sword with serrated edges and the imaged of a roaring dragon carved into the blade.

"Alright Shalltear, sorry for keeping you waiting, but the battle begins now!" Saying that Kieran raised the blade into the air, firstly there was a wild mass of green colored wind which covered the blade. "Hmm? Anyone out there!? Anyone at all?" Kieran had just began one of his 'Super Tier Martial Arts: Sexta Giga' it was a strike which combined six unique types of Ki's: Wind, Water, Earth, Fire, Holy and Demonic elements with each new ki the power of one of his strikes were multiplied by ten, for a total of one million times the power of his normal strikes, but as a consequence of this massive power it had an enormous charge time, Kieran was basically defenseless if anyone wanted to attack him now was the time. "So they didn't bother to leave anyone behind to guard their prisoner eh?"

Dismissing the foolishness of the Shining Justice Kieran finished charging his rainbow colored attack that he had planned on using to draw out the enemy. The ground shook, no, it was better to say that the entire continent was shaking, even at the farthest horizon everyone could see the rainbow colored attack which came from the center of the continent, the strike had literally divided the land, carving a huge seemingly bottomless trench through from the center of the continent all the way to the edge and even parting the sea and the clouds in the process. Needless to say, it was a instant kill.

"GAHAHAHAHAHA! Lord Kieran!" The huge amount of smoke Kieran had produced whistled throughout the continent as the air sucked back into the vacuum that Kieran's attack had created.

* * *

Inside of Nazarick, Demiurge, Cocytus, Aura, Mare and several other servants were gathered around a crystal mirror, Albedo, Gnarl, Nifirea and Koriander walked in to join them on the couch.

"I assume based on that rumbling I just felt that Kieran decided to open up with a Super Tier attack?" Koriander asked sitting down on a couch followed by the others.

"He made use of Quadro Sexta with Gram." Demiurge stated adjusting his glasses. "Naturally, it was super effective."

"'Super Tier Attack?' No more importantly, who are these people Lady Koriander?" Nifirea asked clearly very confused.

"These are our most direct subordinates. You've met Albedo already, this is Cocytus, Demiurge, Aura and Mare." Koriander stated gesturing to the four present subordinates.

"A insect Demi-human, A demon, two dark elves, plus a vampire..." Nifirea was very confused by all of this.

"We also have a butler and a accountant but they're not here right now." Koriander added waving the two very normal sounding subordinates off.

"'A Butler, and a Accountant.'" What terrifying butlers and accountants must these people have to deserve mention among this lot.

"Drinks young sir?" Looking down, Nifirea saw a small penguin with a bow tie holding up a serving trey with glasses of Apple Juice on it.

"Ah... Thanks." Nifirea replied taking a single glass in hand.

"To answer your question, there are abilities in this world that cannot be measured using the standardized tier system. For these abilities which go above and beyond, we call them 'Super Tier.'" As if making a point Koriander produced a small magic circle in her hand. "There are both Super Tier Magic and Super Tier Martial Arts, neither technique makes use of the users own reserves of Ki or Mana, but instead makes use of that which around them. There are limitations though, the area needs to recover it's supply of energy before another attack can be initiated, about forty minuets in total, and even our bodies cannot handle the strain of repeatedly casting those attacks, four or five is the limit, after that it takes us about a day to recover." Koriander explained taking a glass of the apple Juice from the penguin.

"I see..." Nifirea stated his eye twitching while he made a effort to maintain a smile. "So what you're saying, is that Lord Kieran can only destroy five continents in a day, and it would take him about three hours to do it."

"See? I told you he wasn't completely invincible." Koriander stated patting Nifirea on his head.

"But what was that buffing ability he used at the start of the fight?" Aura asked cocking a brow in confusion.

"Lets find out." Demiurge rewound the footage on the crystal ball, revealing Kieran who was activating various magical tattoo's on his body.

"Oh that, easy Kieran's a Ulfheoinn." Koriander stated shrugging her shoulders casually.

"Ahhh..." Nifirea however was only more confused by the explanation.

"It's a class of warrior who forge contracts with the spirits of animals that allows them to possess your body, Kieran has such contracts with five different kinds of dragons." Koriander stated taking a swig of the juice. "Each one provides him with a massive buff, dramatically enhancing his speed, critical hit chance, reflex's, strength, defensive power, offensive power, spiritual power on top of his own ability to enhance his physical vitality with the dark power of our bloodline."

"... Okay." What else was Nifirea suppose to say in face of this person with ridiculous stats and the casual explanations behind them.

" _GAHAHAHAHAHA! Lord Kieran!_ " "Oh this is the part where we walked in on!" Koriander patted on Nifirea's shoulder and pointed him at the crystal mirror.

* * *

"GAHAHAHAHAHA! Lord Kieran!" If Shalltear wasn't awake before then she is now.

Ironic how dying can have that effect on people, that's one of Shalltear's three lives used up, now he just needed to take out the other two. A task that would be significantly harder now that Shalltear had her blood red Valkyrie armor and diving healing weapon Spuit Lance out.

"Shalltear, good seeing you again, tell me how did you like my little hello punch?" Kieran asked smiling as he leaned on the Gram sword and looked down at Shalltear.

"Superb! I'd expect nothing less from you Lord Kieran!" Shalltear waved her lance and brushed the smoke aside from her presence as if the ludicrous amount of destructive power Kieran just demonstrated was a lie.

"If you have turned against us why do you still address me as 'lord?'" Kieran asked suddenly finding the dirt beneath his finger tips to be extremely interesting.

"Isn't that obvious? A supreme being such as yourself can only be addressed as lord Kieran!" Shalltear stated in a obvious tone of voice.

"Who is your master?" Kieran asked which threw the young vampiress into a state of confusion.

"Why am I fighting you Lord Kieran? I was attacked...?" Shalltear appeared to check with some sort of invisible being for confirmation. "...I must use all of my power to destroy my opponent if I am attacked? Why?" Seemingly getting her answer, Shalltear switched back to her joy filled expression. "I don't really understand it. But since I was attacked, I must destroy you Lord Kieran!"

"Understandable." Kieran picked up gram and aimed it at Shalltear. "Well come on then! I'm waiting!"

"Before that though." Shalltear sized up Kieran with a single glance. "What is with that ridiculous outfit? You do know that a soft metal like Adamantite is no match for my divine weapon right?"

"Oh this?" Kieran asked pressing his hand against his chest plate. "I simply didn't think that the armor my sister made for me was worth getting scratched up over dealing with a little ungrateful traitor like you." Kieran stated shrugging his shoulders.

"Oh really?" Shalltear sprung both angelic and vampiric wings from her back and floated above the ground. "If that's the case you shouldn't mine me poking a few holes in it!" Saying that Shalltear charged at Kieran, her weapon ready to expertly pierce Kieran's body and lance his heart. However she was stopped by several blade slashes cutting into her body. "When did you...?" Kieran followed up the blinding blade slashes with a home run swing of his blade, landing another slash across her body and running into several more of the invisible slashes before eventually smashing into a up turned rock.

"Void Cutter that explains it!" A slash that has been honed beyond the point that most would consider perfection, infused directly with ki, could part the very air itself creating a vacuum that would last for several hours and which would rip apart anyone who came into contact with the low pressure environment, essentially it cuts with the void itself.

"Hmph. In that case: Regenerate!" Shalltear released a huge mass of green colored energy down on her head, the wounds that were born of the low pressure environment she had been exposed to were now healed near instantaneously and with a flap of her wings she was back into the air.

"Vermillion Nova!" Suddenly a huge pillar of fire erupted out of the ground beneath Kieran's feet engulfing him in the fire, Kieran stood motionless inside of the flame and by the time that it had passed he stood intact, brushing ash off of super heated red armor.

"So you're immune to fire attacks eh?" Of course he was, Kieran loved fire attacks there's no way that he wouldn't possess immunity to them.

"My turn!" Kieran slammed his foot into the ground, using the shock wave to jump into the air, he coated his arm in the rainbow aura as he closed the distance with Shalltear.

"Oh no you don't!" Shalltear jumped to meet Kieran, her Spuit lance had superior range against Kieran's first, a head shot against him would mean instant death. Suddenly a shield sprung forth from the arm guard on Kieran's left and moved to block the strike from Spuit lance with a loud clash noise. "A shield? Since when do you...?" Shalltear's question was halted as she was grabbed by her face, using that arm coated in powerful Ki Kieran threw Shalltear through the air, where she had a head long collision with the pointy end of Gram.

"Gram!? But how..." Then Shalltear had a flashback to her earlier strike against Kieran. "My Crimson nova! You used it as a smoke screen!" Kieran had thrown the blade into the air and then chucked Shalltear at it.

"Damn you!" Shalltear summoned a spear of light from her hand and threw it at Kieran.

"GAH!" Kieran let out a short cry of pain after he was on the receiving end of that attack.

"Holy attacks! So you do have a weakness after all!" If that was the case, then Shalltear knew exactly what to do, raising her arm in the air, she released the name of her next attack. "Maximize magic: Brilliant radiance!" A second pillar of elemental magic came down on Kieran's head, this one full of holy power.

"GARRRAAHHH!" Kieran roared in pain as he was brought down to his knees.

"Yes!" Shalltear ripped Gram out of her body and threw it into the ground, before casting regenerate again to heal the gaping chest wound. "In that case, all I have to do is keep up the pressure!" Shalltear produced a massive light spear and threw it at Kieran while he was down. "Nothing I enjoy better then kicking someone when they're down!" Shalltear readied one light spear in each of her hands and hurled them both at the downed Kieran.

"GUAH!" The downed Kieran was thrown backwards by the holy spear attacks bouncing along the ground before he eventually came to a halt. "That's three." Rather than a magic spell, holy spear was a special ability of Shaltear, which like some of her other abilities had a limited three uses per day, and that was all three of them, now he needed to bring down her magic and land two more fatal blows on her to use up her other two extra lives.

"Here I come!" Shalltear dive bombed the downed Kieran, her lance ready to stab him.

"Naive." Shalltear couldn't see because Kieran's shield was in the way, but Kieran had coated his hand in rainbow aura again, and he used that to smack Shalltear into the trench he had carved into the ground. Since the trench led all the way to the ocean, it naturally had flooded already with sea water, Kieran decided to take advantage of this. "Infuse Ki: Holy." Kieran tapped a finger against the surface of the water and suddenly it all glowed with holy power. At the bottom of the newly formed lake, Shalltear realized with horror what state the water had been turned into. Even if she was no longer a vampire, the blood of one beat through her veins, staying down here would be bad for her.

" _Wait why am I no longer a vampire?_ "

While Shalltear thought about that she saw the light above her disappear, Kieran had moved a giant slab of solidified earth above the lake and sealing it off using fire Ki. Naturally Shalltear had went to work trying to chip her way out of the adamantite hard ten foot thick rock above her head but the material had been reinforced with Kieran's Ki. Shalltear succeeded in chipping through the stone, at that point in time another rainbow fist came crashing down on top of her head sending her plummeting down to the bottom of the lake, knocking the air out of her lungs and replacing it with toxic holy water, needless to say it was fatal blow.

"Two down." Kieran stated shaking the numbness out of his fist.

Suddenly, the ground started to rumble, Kieran took a step back as a geyser suddenly erupted from the hole Shalltear had created followed shortly after by Shalltear herself using the force of the steam she produced by launching another crimson nova attack under the water, she was met with another round of void cutter gashes, that is on top of the damage she took from the steam burns, crashing head first into solid adamantite stone and the holy energy she was breathing in.

"Sorry about that, I got bored waiting for you so I retrieved my sword and took a few practice swings, I hope you don't mind."

"Maximise magic: Regenerate!" Shouting that Shalltear was bathed in healing light healing her numerous injuries. "Hyah!" Shalltear dive bombed Kieran intending to slam her lance into him once more, Kieran blocked the rapid fire stinger attacks with his shield.

" _She's starting to feel desperate, if she maxed that last crimson nova then her magic reserves should have been brought down a good chunk._ " Kieran thought even as Shalltear kept up her rapid fire lance thrusts, he blocked most of them but she was landing strikes to one of his legs and to his side. " _Still I could use some double checking!_ " Kieran coated his good leg with rainbow aura and landed a kick to Shalltear's mid section launching the Vampiress high into the air, though she was quick to recover.

"Maximise Magic: Brilliant Radiance!" A pillar of holy light came down on top of Kieran once more.

"GRAH!" Kieran was brought down to his knees again by the latest blast of amplified holy magic. "Got you!" Shalltear dive bombed Kieran again only to be parried with his shield and slammed aside with Gram.

"Let's do some damage shall we?" Kieran jumped onto Shalltear and let loose with seven consecutive swings of his blade, each strike was hit with perfect accuracy cleaving through chunks of Shalltear's vital organs that even a maxed out Regenerate was having a hard time healing, made all the worst by the fact that each strike was also a void cutter with the resulting low pressure zone placed directly inside of her body was ripping apart her internal organs and making it all the harder to cast magic.

"I've taken too much damage! I can't let him have my last life! Summon Household!" Suddenly, Shalltear's shadow expanded rapidly and out from it came a huge amount of shadowy rats, wolves and bats. "Force explosion!" An invisible shock wave came off of Shalltear and blew Kieran off of her sending him sailing through the air and causing him to land with a hand stand before pushing himself back onto his feet. "Einharjar!" At the same time, Shalltear also spat out a huge amount of white material from her mouth which then took on the form of a white clone of herself, two of her special skills at once, so Shalltear was running low on magical power, then again it wasn't like he could blame her for spamming high powered magic attacks one after the other, given how much of a sitting duck he's been the whole fight. Einharjar was essentially a weaker clone of Shalltear, with all of her stats and weapons and armor, but none of her skills.

"So a three prong assault eh? You, your clone and you your little pets?" Kieran blocked the Einharjar's strike with his shield, followed up by parrying with a shield bash, giving him a look as to what the real Shalltear was up to. "So that's it isn't it?"

Shalltear was slaughtering her house hold summons using spuit lance, since the lance healed her in proportion to how much damage it dealt, not how much damage her opponents received, so what really mattered was the number of targets not how tough they were, it was actually a brilliant bit of planning on her part in place of her regenerate spell or extra lives. But the fact that she wasn't using regenerate also meant that she didn't have a choice, her mana reserves were gone.

"Let's end this farce!" Kieran held out his hand as the Einharjar got ready to stab him again, Kieran blocked with his shield again and crushed a huge amount of rainbow colored aura in his hand. "World Break!" Suddenly the entire area shattered like it was made out of glass, cutting off the outside world in the process.

* * *

"What...? What was that!?" Nifirea asked his mouth wide open with shock.

"Looks like World Break to me." Koriander replied her head nodding sagely.

"WHAT DOES THAT MEAN!?" Nifirea shouted prompting a cold hand the size of his head to reach out and grab him by his hair.

"Do. Not. Speak. To. A. Supreme. Being. In. That. Disrespectful. Tone!" Cocytus lectured angrily holding Nifirea up by his hair.

"He's no good to us if you damage him Cocytus. Drop him!" To Koriander's firm tone, Cocytus had no choice but to drop the still panicking Nifirea on his butt.

"As. You. Command."

"To answer your question Nifirea, World Break shatters the leylines through which magic and Ki flow through the world." Koriander stated smiling at the panicking Nifirea. "They're also responsible for regulating the flow of time and space in any given area, by shattering them Kieran has created a artificial space where time has stopped moving and at the same time cut off from the rest of the world. Obviously, Shalltear was killed in the blast." Koriander stated a amused look on her face while Nifirea attempted to process reality.

"... Of course he can: Lord Kieran can already shatter continents and raise mountains, why wouldn't he be able to destroy time and space too." Nifirea let out a sigh while he thought about the situation. "I'd like to go back to Carne Village for a while, does it still exist or did you bury that under a horde of pink elephants?"

"Don't be rediculous what use do we have for a horde of elephants?" Koriander stated deeply amused.


	18. Chapter 18

**Author's Note** : Alright, last chapter for a while, I'm going to be working on something else as of next week. But in the mean time Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy!

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Chapter 18: Life to the Loyal

A world of shattered glass, like a picture that had been broken and put back together by a child, with a few chunks of mirror and other pictures thrown in for good measure. Time had stopped moving, where had stopped mattering. Inside of this place where reality had simply been broken Shalltear awoke with a gasp, her eyes quickly darting around as she desperately attempted to piece together this situation. She was on her last life, but Kieran was on his last legs. Numerous holes had been punched in his armor, his body was burned and bleeding from the numerous holy attacks landed upon him. It was down right miraculous that he was even still able to stand, even if he didn't take any damage from world break his ability to draw upon Ki from the air should have been ruined by it. Unfortunately though, the same could be said for Shalltear, even though she was in perfect health from the sacrifice of her last life she had still lost her house hold summons, and Einherjar, and her magic supply had been exhausted, but none of that mattered. She was still far ahead of Kieran.

"So tell me Shalltear how was the feeling of dying for the undead?" Kieran asked with a kind of casual cockiness that was not fitting of someone on the verge of death.

"I expected nothing less from you Lord Kieran!" Shalltear stated smiling confidently. "You've massacred all of my summons in one hit, I've had to use up all my special abilities, and I'm out of magical power. You did well to come this far, but the gap of our compatibility was too great." Shalltear explained with a smile.

"I will accept that honest praise of yours." Kieran stated as he studied the dirt beneath his nails. Shalltear began walking forward, confident of victory, all that she had to do was land a final strike on Kieran to finish him off. "Indeed, I am quite grateful for the massive gap in our compatibility." Kieran stated straitening, his body glowing as the effects of a magic spell wore off revealing himself in pristine condition, even if his armor was still full of holes.

"How were you able to heal yourself just now?" Shalltear asked looking at Kieran with a stupefied look on her face.

"If you were a little more conservative then it wouldn't have been this easy to fool you." That struck Shalltear with confusion. "As a undead you should be familiar with the concept of plus immunity. For instance a former high tier undead like yourself possessed two hundred percent immunity against all poisons, meaning that if say you were hit with a poison attack, you would instead be healed rather than damaged." Now Kieran gestured to the armor that he was wearing, depicting a angel falling from the heavens with a sword through it's chest. "This useless piece of armor, has had the entirety of it's potential wasted on one single aspect: Holy damage resist."

"'Holy Damage Resist?'" Shalltear asked with a horrified note in her voice.

"When fighting against a opponent of superior brute power, it is important that you outsmart them, for example: when hit with a attack that you are weak against, like fire, then it is important to suffer through without flinching. Or when you go through the trouble of maxing out your resistance to a certain element, you must pretend to be excruciating pain from the damage." Shalltear tightened her grip on her weapon, cringing in frustration. "But acting is not enough, to complete the disguise you also need to use magic to create the illusion that you are taking damage when you are not, and you are not being damaged when you are. Luckily, even if you are not a magic caster you can still use magic scrolls." Shalltear had rage burning in her eyes from the realization that she had been tricked. "Though I will admit I went overboard in my preparations." Kieran stated tapping his finger against his cheek where he ripped out several teeth and replaced them with hollowed fakes filled with healing potion. "Well that's fine. Lets put a end to this farce shall we?"

"YIIEEEAAAAHHHHH!" She couldn't take it anymore, Shalltear jumped through the air her lance ready to strike and thrust her weapon at her enemy's head.

Kieran snapped another stick between his fingertips 'Kin Slayer.' His entire body was consumed with the light of magical equipping as Shalltear's attack connected.

"Too little. Too late." Kieran's entire full body armor had been replaced, green armor with a dragon skull shoulder plate on his right arm, blue armor on his right leg ending in a dragon's head, brown on his left leg also ending in a dragon shoe, red on his left arm topped with dragon skull, golden cloth with a skull resembling a horse's head draped around his lower body, and his chest and head covered in a layer pitch black metal, a huge red crystal sticking out of the middle of the chest plate as if daring for someone to strike it, Kieran's menacing red eyes glaring at Shalltear hatefully through emptied eye sockets.

"It can't be!" Shalltear fell to her behind and began scrambling to get away, a sharp one eighty had been pulled in terms of vampire to human hierarchy.

"Has it sunk in yet?" The Kin Slayer, the armor that Kieran slaughtered five divine class dragons to make, their bodies and their souls reunited in one perfect, horrifying unity of magic crafts and martial skill, each of them adding onto his own power, his compatibility with the mixed Ki's that made the difference between the thousands and the billions. "This is the difference between Master, and the diseased little vermin that don't know their place!" Kieran kicked Shalltear hard enough that she found her stomach contents being spat out on the ground, sent bouncing across the broken dimensional space. Kieran snapped another stick and Shalltear found herself gaping in surprise with what she saw. "What's wrong Shalltear?" Kieran asked holding the huge mechanical cross bow known as 'Apollo.' "It's only normal to stock up on powerful items with specialized equipment in order to cover for your existing weaknesses." With that, Kieran fired off a series of rapid fire light blasts from the cross bow, it's shots all aimed at Shalltear.

"I refuse!" Shalltear readied her lance and struck down as many of the light blasts as she could. But alas her weapon was built for thrusting and stabbing, even with so many targets to hit and so much room to dodge she still missed the majority of them and struck her many times over.

"Hmm. She's doing kind of well against Apollo. Let's she how she does against two." Kieran picked up another of the sticks, Mjornir, broke it and summoned his hand a massive war hammer, and threw it into the air at Shalltear who was was still flying around striking down Apollo's strikes and dodging as many as she could. However Mijornir was different, that magic hammer that crackled with electricity, once it had it's target it would ignore everything else and hit it.

"GYAH!" That hammer that was like a heat seeking missile found it's mark and slammed into her mid section. "GUH!" The hammer released a blast of electricity paralyzing Shalltear as the holy attacks from Apollo struck her in her back blowing her wings off in the process. "KYYYAAAAHHHH!" Shalltear screamed all the way down and landed with several of her bones breaking. Kieran kept firing on Shalltear, Shalltear grabbed the hammer and used it to bat the strikes away from her with wild swings.

"That doesn't belong to you." Kieran pointed one finger in the air and the hammer came sailing back to him, Shalltear still hanging onto it. With another snap of a stick Kieran replaced Apollo with Kanshou and Bakuya, a short sword in each hand, one black and one white, both had a back edge of several smaller knives which had been welded together into a impressively spiky edge. Kieran stabbed both blades into Shalltear's guts twisting the blades as he pushed them in and pulled them out creating huge jagged wounds in Shalltear's guts. "I was actually looking forward to this. How disappointing." Kieran stated shaking his head. "I didn't even get the chance to demonstrate the ludicrous difference in speed between us." Saying that, Kieran suddenly did side to side steps so fast that there actually seemed to be ten of him, before suddenly stopping as fast as he had been moving. "You didn't even force me to use the healing potions Kori gave me." Kieran took the shield off of his arm. Grabbing the handle of the sword and squeezing, the entire thing suddenly sprung out and together with the shield turned into a huge battle ax. "I thought it would be poetic to use this to store up all the damage from your attacks and then finish you off with them but, it seems that it wasn't necessary. Ah well." Kieran held the blade of the ax over Shalltear's neck. "Die knowing you never stood a chance." With that and a loud thwack Kieran brought down the ax on Shalltear's head.

* * *

"Well it's been about forty minuets." Koriander stated standing in front of the massive broken space that Kieran had created.

"Can we turn it back to normal?" Nifirea asked looking concerned. "I don't think we should just... leave it like this."

"Ignoring the fact that my brother is in there it would cause unneeded complications for us down the road." Saying that Koriander had a huge number of magic circles surround her.

"Do I even want to know?" Nifirea asked looking at Koriander with blatant suspicion.

"To beat super tier one needs super tier." Koriander stated shrugging her shoulders. "Now stand back a bit, this can get a little dicey."

Saying that, the Super Tier Spell: Creation, went to work. The space that Kieran had shattered seemingly beyond repair quickly pulled itself back together, the two spell casters saw a familiar individual sitting laxly in the middle of a huge crater, the decapitated corpse of a vampire at his side, looking up at the sky.

"How was Shalltear brother?" Koriander asked smiling as she looked down at her brother.

"Uneventful." Kieran replied his tone that of someone who stomped on a cockroach and was disappointed that it died in the first strike. "I was so excited about fighting the monster Balloma put together that I brought out my shinies and then pounded her with them."

"Well you do have to remember that Balloma's work was contaminated by outside influence." Koriander stated shrugging her shoulders.

"Is her ability to make monsters that great?" Nifirea asked looking horrified.

"Not her skill no, but her resourcefulness and resources on the other hand? Oh those are quite vast indeed." Koriander stated as Kieran threw her his weapon sticks and she threw him three others.

"Like... you two for example." Nifirea stated realizing the dynamic between the three siblings. "Oh if not for Balloma tricking us into getting along between my tendency to play rather humerus practical jokes on him and his tendency to smash all of my things the two of us would have killed each other years ago." Koriander explained her tone of voice that of someone who was speaking about something rather funny.

"So... your sister manipulates the two of you: and you let her?" Nifirea asked cocking a brow in confusion.

"She manipulates us but we manipulate her too: She has her goals and we ours, she knows what our goals are and how to make them align with hers, and she knows that if she lies to us we'll rip her to shreds and make cute little hair ties out of her." Koriander explained as she walked into the teleportation magic circle. "Oh that reminds me, do you know where I can pick up any good sheep skin?"

* * *

Kieran rode back to the city on the back of his golem horse. On the hook on the side of his saddle a vampire's severed head had been mounted for the entire town to see, it's chin wobbling as the giant mass of stone shifted up and down, Kieran was wearing a set of his regular armor, numerous holes punctured in it wide gashes torn into it. Obviously, this wasn't Kieran's real armor, but rather it was a product of one of Koriander's Black Smith's, Kieran walked into the guild hall and placed Shalltear's head on the collections desk, alongside a handful of mithril plates. With the mutual understanding that Kieran was now owed more money then what the Guild Hall could pay he instead collected in services, when every magician in the city pooled their magics together to fix his armor that had been damaged fighting 'Carmilla'. With that Kieran began heading out of the guild hall back to Nazarick.

"Wait!" Kieran rolled his eyes and turned around to face the receptionist who had followed him out.

"Look lady I've got to be somewhere so unless you wanna plow me I really gotta go now." Towards that end, the receptionist blushed, looked down while awkwardly tapping her fingers together. "Seriously? Severed vampire heads that's what does it for you people?"

* * *

Inside of Nazarick, Nabe arrived via teleportation circle inside of the great hall, the numerous gathered floor guardians and two overlord candidates looked at her expectantly.

"Seriously?" Balloma could only shake her head in sheer disappointment. "Someone over there is turned on by severed vampire heads?"

"Well Kieran works hard putting up with all the things that he can't stand. Let's cut him a break we don't need him for this." Koriander stated amused.

The guardians were surrounding Shalltear's headless corpse, a jar full of life force had been brought from the minion farms and thus Shalltear's ritual resurrection had begun. This was not a revival, but a reanimation, using Necromancy they intended to have Shalltear transformed into her original species, that of a true vampire, with her blood of a true vampire already in her veins the next step was to make the rest of her body remember that. The swirling aura of darkness consumed Shalltear's corpse and her head was summoned to reattach to her shoulders, Koriander went to work shaping the flesh of Shalltear. Soon the recreated Shalltear was formed before the group's very eyes.

"Ugh... What happened?" Shalltear asked looking around in confusion as Demiurge produced a large black blanket and layered it over her form.

"Glad that's over with, someone fill her in, I need to go pick a few things up from your room Koriander." Balloma stated as she walked away.

"Before you go I thought there was something you'd want to know." The pair of Overlord candidates turned to look at the familiar form of a red haired woman in a mages cloak.

"And where have you been?" Koriander asked looking at her grandmother with blatant suspicion. "Shalltear got poked by a Unicorn while you were away."

"Good that will save me some time explaining. The Unicorns have managed to secure a foothold on the continent, best to avoid the Baharuth empire for a while." Rose explained crossing her arms. "The annual war with the Baharuth empire should be coming up soon, and I suspect they will not be content to keep it to mere harassment this time. The Kingdom will not be able to fend them off this time."

"Which means that our own forces must be ready by that time." Balloma concluded before looking at Demiurge. "The Dwelf's are not where I'd like them to be. It seems that we have weeks to train them where I thought we had years."

"Then we need to create an opportunity to train them up." Balloma stated scratching her chin.

"If you wish for conflict, then there are a hardy brand of Lizard men living in the swamps north of the forest of Tob." Rose stated prompting the two siblings to look at each other and shrug their shoulders. "Nabe, go back to E-Rantle and fill Kieran in on what is going on. We'll need our Warlord soon enough."


	19. Chapter 19

**Author's Note** : And I'm back, that wasn't so bad a wait now was it? But I digress. Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 19: Prelude to War

The Great Lake, a region of the Katze Plains north of the Great Forest of Tob, there were a total of five unique tribes of lizard men living there: The Small Fang tribe, who emphasized good intelligence, research and reconnaissance mixed with long distance war fare. The Green Claw, who were more politically inclined then most of their neighbors, in the past they had led a alliance of two other tribes, and were working on making a fish farm using technologies they had skimmed from scouting human villages. The Dragon Tusk tribe who were one of the largest and most savage of all of the tribes. The Red Eye tribe which was full of druids who used their magics to build reinforced mud walls and to magically conjure edible plants. Finally there was Razor Tail, who made use of crude heavy armor made from a mixture of animal skins, bones and specially carved wood. The five tribes of lizard people competed for space within this area with a race of frog men from across the lake, and the magical creatures of the Great Forest of Tob and through that life style, they have grown to become very strong. By the New World's Standard that is.

"This is the group of hardy lizard men you were telling us about?" Aura asked cocking a brow in confusion as she looked down at the great lake from the back of a gryphon.

"Do not let their lifestyle fool you young one." Rose stated utilizing the 'fly' spell to float beside the young Dark Elf. "Young Kieran was raised in such a environment of scarce food and vicious beasts, the only difference being the temperature."

"Whatever." Aura gave a dismissive shrug all the same. "Should we go back to the base camp and make our report?"

Several creatures were going about the process of adding to and expanding the mansion like building that was commonly known as the beta Nazarick. Among them were huge brutish brown creatures that were making use of their brutish strength to rip trees out of the ground were green skinned gangly creatures with glowing veins would then expertly chop the branches off with their claws before bringing the wood over to the building itself. These were minions, subjected to experimentation and mutation by Demiurge based on super soldier research that was being conducted by past Overlords and the once Glorious Empire. The larger vaguely orc like Minions were in fact browns, subjected to the same mutation process which had produced Juggernauts for the Glorious Empire in the pass. The Tall and lanky ones were Greens, exposed to liquid magical sap in small controlled doses and given a raw infusion of demonic power a technique used in a battle of succession between overlords in the past. Other similar experiments were being conducted on the Minions.

"What's wrong Mare you look upset?" Aura asked as she landed her Gryphon beside her brother.

"It's these minions. They're all off kilter." Minions were created over the course of several generations, A select combination of mutagens devised from several species, distilled into an artificial womb, and then filled with life force all in order to produce these creatures. These new ones however threw much of the logic of the old out the window. Stupid and weak creatures that were only a threat when they attacked in masse, an unlimited supply of disposable units who could swarm and overwhelm the enemy. These ones were meant to be able to fight the enemy face to face, but problems would inevitably arise, as one Brown Minion demonstrated by keeling over gripping his chest. "There goes another one." The mutations were too strenuous for the fragile minions to handle, and many of their organs would simply shut down in the process. "We can't just keep spamming healing spells." At Mare's comment a Blue Minion rushed over and healed the oversize brown getting him back on his feet in the process.

"This prototype is going to be a while before it becomes fully functional." Aura seemed to concede to Mare's point at this. "Still, Having Juggernaught Browns as the vanguard and healing blue's as the mid guard does seem like a viable strategy as any doesn't it?"

"I suppose. According to Demi's experiments there's not any long term negative effects from constantly downing Healing potions." Mare stated scratching his chin.

"That said such experiments are reserved for the prisoners." Rose floated down to meet the twins. "The two of you on the other hand are not allowed to resort to the use of sustenance items, for this reason you will still have your three meals a day."

"Okay Granny!" Aura stated beaming brightly.

"...Okay." Mare stated in a much quieter tone of voice.

"One of the maids has already produced your meals, go to them while I fetch Demiurge." Saying that the two elf twins ran off to the dining area while Rose went for the suited demon. It appeared that the demon was preparing for his master's arrival, he certainly looked like he had been busy, having adopted Koriander's hobby of stack carving bone. As the Devil was in the process of mutilating a femur he sensed Rose's arrival and turned around to greet her.

"Ah. Good afternoon Madam Rose." With a sweep of his arm Demiurge curtsy'd to the grandmother of his masters. "To what brings you to our humble abode?"

"I was wondering how your report was coming along concerning the lizard men, I know that I am not trust with such matters." Rose stated somewhat annoyed. Thanks to Gnarl's constant and vocal opinion about the woman neither of her three grand children trusted her word at face value. Therefore they required a second opinion.

"It is as you say: The lizard men live in a slightly nicer environment then what lord Kieran grew up in where they war among each other, other tribes of demi-humans and the local monsters. This life style has slowly built up their power until they have reached a point where they make for decent foot soldiers, in short they are a ideal opponent for the Dwelfs developed as part of our forces." Demiurge had been spending the last couple of days preparing them for this trial run, and on the recommendation of his master Koriander, took to stack carving as a way to calm his nerves. The group's entire stockpile of life force had been eaten up power leveling those things, yet while failure was a costly option, there would still bring a opportunity do to the two key factors that it would bring, a large number of living specimens, and a large number of dead ones. "Failure as they say brings necessity, and necessity brings innovation. If this does fail then we will know what we must do to succeed next time. Given the option, I prefer a early failure then one we make after sinking a sufficient amount of time and resources into the equation."

"True. True. Will Kieran be over seeing the military operation then?" Rose asked cocking a brow at the demon.

"Master Kieran prefers to do the fighting up close and personal. As such he hopes to develop the command skills of one of his subordinates instead." Demiurge stated shrugging his shoulders dismissively.

"Hmm. I'm disappointed by the fact that Kieran isn't developing his own command skills instead." Rose stated visibly displeased. "I will have to go over the matter rather thoroughly with him later."

"He mentioned that he was dealing with a pest problem for the Adventurer's guild today, I can give you the name of the town that he is visiting." Demiurge stated as he adjusted his glasses causing them to produce a shining gleam.

* * *

Kieran yawned as he exited from his tent, since the slaying of Shalltear he had taken to camping outside of the walls of E-Rantle, the receptionist was asleep in the tent next to him when he got up, but by the time he finished his morning routine she was awake and dressed.

"Hamster, Nabe, pack up the camping equipment, we go to work today." Nabe nodded her head in response, while the hamster gave a stiff salute and quickly packed the camping equipment up into a huge green sack. "As for you?" Kieran asked turning his head over to the receptionist.

"Arrange the jobs according to topography, reserve the largest possible payout and any requests from nobles." The Blonde haired woman stated smiling, having someone as powerful as Kieran rely on her filled her with a warm sense of fulfillment. "It shall be done." With the receptionist gone Kieran looked around, he could tell that the minions were still present on pure instinct, they had simply chose to be invisible on this occasion. "Alright, lets go."

Kieran made several errands, firstly the Swords of Darkness were showing off in the town square the various magical items that were produced by Koriander and he could see that there were already several rented wagons making their way to her store. To their disappointment they will likely find that only the top ranked adventurer's would be able to afford her wares, it would likely garner interest from the neighboring kingdoms and with interest comes influence. Secondly Kieran visited the remains of the alchemy shop, Nifirea had been successful in convincing his grandmother to move to Carne village with him while he continues his tutelage under Koriander, the ability to wield any magical item was valuable and as soon as they were able to reverse engineer it it would make for a great asset for them. Then he went to the mages guild where he retrieved his armor, or more accurately the recreation that was given fake battle damage to create the illusion that Shalltear had damaged it during the battle, final step in that farce was to retrieve that armor. His final stop of the morning was the adventurer's guild, his new plate should be in and he could pick it up when he got his missions for the day. That said he also developed a habit of developing good will among the masses lately as well, people would come to him asking to shake his hands, which he would, and new mothers would bring him their Newborns asking him to touch their children in hopes that they would become strong warriors, he would rub his thumb on their foreheads and call it a blessing of his homeland. He also found himself serving as a intermediary between his continuously annoyingly mute partner and the various people who walked up to them in order to ask her out/ ask her to marry them/ declare themselves her soulmate. Kieran was called over by the receptionist and thus the latest in a series of fools would be left to fend for himself for a few moments.

"You've gotten a request from a noble to escort him on his family's rite of passage." The receptionist stated maintaining a air of professionalism as she read from the request. "It's a tradition of his family, before a heir of the Völkchenheim estate can inherit they must first enter battle and successfully complete a kill. Naturally, this tradition falls in line with your usual MO so you came highly recommended, as such I have found a area with a optimized number of monster slaying opportunities." As the receptionist was explaining this, chaos erupted behind Kieran.

"YEEEEEOOOOOCCHHH!"

"That was the noble I'm suppose to escort wasn't it?" Kieran asked prompting the Receptionist to give a worried nod. When Kieran turned around he saw that Nabe had jammed a fork into the latest in a series of suitors for her hand in marriage. "Alright..." Kieran checked the request flyer. "Torkel, let's get going." Saying that Kieran picked up the Nobleman by the scruff of his shirt, threw him over his shoulder and brought him outside.

"Did you talk to him yet?" Ainzach the guild master asked walking next to the Receptionist.

"He said that given the choice, he prefers to work with people who will stand back and let him work instead of seeing anymore people get killed fighting something that is out of his league." The receptionist stated a sad look on her face.

"The scars of Kralgra's loss affects him deep, watching your comrades turned into monsters and having to strike them down like that." Ainzach was just glad it wasn't him. "Still, just having a team with one fighter and all support specialists?"

"That's just too unreasonable, I agree. It's no wonder he only works with that woman." The receptionist didn't have a look of jealousy on her features that she had the other day.

"So you aren't concerned about the other woman anymore?" Ainzach asked cocking a curious brow at his employee. "She seems to have taken a vow of celibacy, so I'm not concerned, even though I know that I'm only a fling to him."

* * *

The trip to the next town over was rather tedious for about five minuets, but after being made to suffer through the nobleman's talking for so long Kieran chose to use the music playing function in his helmet to block him out. As Kieran understood it, thanks to the loss of the Great Forest of Tob's chief predators, the number of creatures that they preyed on had exploded and now they were making their way into human settlements. Kieran just needed him to shank a goblin and they could all go home. That was his plan anyway.

"A Basilisk!?" With the lost of the resident super predators, new ones were moving into the old territory, which caused the abundant prey animals, many of whom were predators of lesser creatures like goblins, to flee in even greater numbers. The Basilisk was a nightmare of a creature, a huge muscular lizard/snake monster with eight legs with the ability to cast paralysis and poison spit, even for adamantite ranked adventurer's they were not easy to take down. "Hold this." Kieran took a short out of his leg sheath and shoved it into the arms of Torkel. "You'll be making your first kill in a moment." Saying that, Kieran picked up a couple of stones and started to walk towards the Basilisk.

"But the Paralysis!" Kieran chucked one stone square in the left eye socket causing the monster to howl in agony and followed up with the right eye socket. "... The poison spit..." Kieran's fire attacks evaporated the poison before they could reach him, once he was in striking range he swung his sword once and suddenly the poison fangs were sent sailing through the air. "... The-the..." Torkel was losing his sense of reason now, lost when he saw Kieran judo throw the Basilisk by the tongue and pinned him in place by stabbing his blade through the roof of the monster's mouth. "Uh... uh..." Having lost his sense of reason, Torkel watched mouth open as Kieran separated the Basilisk from it's eight legs and tail. "Oi noobie!" Kieran stated gesturing to the creature which had been thoroughly disarmed, in every sense of the word, with his thumb. "Complete your kill already so that I don't have to listen to you harass my monk anymore!" While Torkel approached the beast that Kieran had just chopped to pieces the black armored warrior spotted a familiar woman in a black cloak staring at him. "Now if you'll excuse me, something just came up." Kieran had been led to a section of the forests that were off to the side. "Alright you old bat what have I done that you disapprove of now?" Kieran asked crossing his arms in displeasure.

"You assigned your subordinate to the test run for the dwelf warriors instead of doing the assignment yourself." Rose replied in no uncertain terms.

"I'm confident in my ability as a commander, but as long as I'm running around here adventuring then we're going to need another one." Kieran stated his tone uncompromising.

"Then you should go and educate your pupil before his exam." Rose explained knowingly.

"Erg." Kieran appeared to ponder the situation for a few moments. "Fine. I wanted to drop the hamster off with the twins any way." Saying that Kieran turned to Nabe and the still love struck Torkel who had still not learned his lesson. "Nabe! Chase all the monsters back into the forest then take Torkel back to the Adventurer's guild, and don't stab him again! I'm going with Rose for a while!" Nabe appeared to nod, and put away a dagger she had on her person. "Hamster! Get over here!"

"Right away sir!" The giant rodent in question ran over to Kieran and together with Rose the three of them disappeared into a mass of black.

* * *

Kieran was spat out in the beta Nazarick, looking around the area Kieran could see the fruits of Koriander's minion enhancement experiments, Juggernaught browns, magically mutated green minions, demonically supercharged blues.

"She's been screwing around with my browns again." Kieran stated his brows twitching.

"These ones are newborns, the elites are untouched." Rose explained gesturing to the browns who were suffering from some health problems as a result of their mutations.

Minions can increase their power and level up similar to most other living creatures, up to level fifty. By having the Minions pit fight one another to the death, their power would increase, as long as they had a steady supply of life force these minions could be continuously revived without loss of levels. Do this for long enough, and you'd have a army of high level monsters.

"Good, I'll take fifty of them." Kieran stated without hesitation.

"Isn't that a little much?" Rose asked amused.

"My sister uses any living thing she can get her hands on as a lab rat. Keeping our elites away from her is a sound decision." Kieran stated annoyed.

"You needn't worry, the elites are being used to train the younger Minions, the ones that aren't dragged off to be experimented on that is. As such they are far too valuable for experimentation. Speaking of education though, your pupil awaits your guidance." Kieran rolled his eyes as he turned to face Aura and Mare.

"Aura!" The Dark Elves turned around to face Kieran. "This rat is a little too shabby for my tastes." The Hamster tensed up as Kieran talked, a bad feeling upon her. "Throw her into the meat grinder and whip her into shape."

"'Meat Grinder' 'Whip?'" The Hamster asked her fur springing outwards as every goose bump on her body went off at the same time.

"Aye-Aye Boss!" Saying that Aura used her whip to lasso the big hairball and drag her towards her, in spite of the Hamster grabbing the ground with all of her paws as she tried desperately to resist.

* * *

 **Review Section** :

Chronos0305: Thank you for saying so. Nabe's already in the story, the maids will come later. In spite of just how bad the Fellowship of Evil was the Golden is a interesting enough threat to carry weight, granted not the metric butt-ton of bad that is Fellow Ship of Evil. Similarly the concept of, or at least my head cannon, of how a Netherghul is made also carries some weight so that will be seen later.

rmarcano321: I know. Debatable. Agreed. Agreed. Balloma's mother. True. That they do. Minions, but debatable. She's a battle crazed loon not a queen. Meh. For good Reason. If that works for you. True. That they were. Ainz is his granddad. When it suits her. Agreed. Agreed.

Guest: If that's your taste.


	20. Chapter 20

**Author's Note** : Not much to say right now, a little problem that has popped up over the past couple of weeks has all but resolved itself. So Read, Review Favorite and Enjoy!

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Chapter 20: The Start of War

When the former Wise King of the Forest awoke, she had a illumination orb hovering above her head, and her limbs, tail included, had be secured rather firmly. The illumination orb only seemed to illuminate the hamster herself, which was rather frightening as the rest of the room was quite dark, the fact that there was light shining directly in her face did not help matters any.

"Wh-where am I?" The Hamster shouted in fright.

"Oh our apologies." A polite but invisible voice stated as several hands waved into the light out of darkness. "We meant for you to remain asleep for the procedure."

"Wh-what procedure?" The Hamster asked her fears in no way waylaid.

"You have two of your limited eight spell slots filled with rather useless abilities, Blindness and Charm Species." Animals like Hamsuke were limited to the use of only eight spells, in Hamsuke's case spells of the fourth tier. "In order to facilitate the implementation of new spells in those slots, we have to remove your skin first."

"WWWHHHAAAA!" The Hamster shouted filled with fear.

The reason why animals were only limited to eight spells, was because said spells had to engraved, or 'slotted' directly into the skin.

"We don't wish to cause any unnecessary trauma to you, so we'll use sleep on you again, and if necessary memory alteration as well." Saying that, the Hamster was hit with the spell of sleep again and was quickly rendered unconscious.

* * *

The Guardians, Aura, Mare, Cocytus, Demiurge and Albedo together with Kieran and Koriander were sat inside of the the Beta Nazarick's lobby. The last two to arrive were Balloma and Shalltear, ironically enough through the use of Shalltear's gate ability. Perhaps the fact that Balloma was riding Shalltear side saddle style had something to do with it.

"You're late Balloma." Kieran snapped clearly unamused.

"Just finishing off Shalltear's punishment." Balloma stated getting up off her feet and brushing herself off. "Shalltear, your three days as a bench are complete." Balloma informed watching Shalltear get back up. "Now to business. Kieran did you talk to your idiot yet?"

"I talked to Cocytus, he listened but it remains to see if he learned." Kieran stated crossing his arms.

"Is that enough?" Balloma asked cocking a brow in suspicion.

"More then enough." Kieran stated not a shred of doubt in his voice.

"Then let us begin. Kori if you will." Balloma stated gesturing to the door.

Zaryusu Shasha was what is commonly known as a traveler, a person who has made the decision to go on a pilgrimage to the outside world with the intention to bring home information or resources to improve the tribe over all. Though lizard men were omnivorous they preferred to eat meat, hence when Zaryusu decided to become a traveler, it was with the intention that he would acquire a means of producing meat for the tribe. He encountered human villages to the south, but their methods didn't suit his needs: they primarily produced plants, and what meats they did produced were from land animals. The Members of Zaryusu's tribe, the Green Claw, competed for space and resources with four other lizard men tribes, a tribe of frog men from across the lake, and goblins who lived south of their community, the latter of which has lately become both stronger and more aggressive. It was while thinking about such factors that Zaryusu had made a radical decision: he had created a fish farm, and he lived away from the tribe next to the lake with his mount Rororo, a mutant four headed hydra. It was because he lived away from the village like this that he saw 'it' before he heard it. What it was though was up for debate, at this point in time it looked like a huge mass of flesh that someone had randomly fused together and cast fly on to send it into the sky.

"The F-..."

" **LIZARD MEN!** " The monster wailed loud enough that it sent shock waves into their cores. " **YOU ARE THE SECOND SACRIFICES OF THE SUPREME ONES.** "

"'Second Sacrifices?'" Zaryusu asked not failing to make the connection going on here.

" **DEATH COMES FOR ALL OF YOU EIGHT DAYS HENCE, YOU SHALL DIE AND BE REMADE INTO WEAPONS OF THE SUPREME ONES!** " Suddenly a layer of magic coated the monster. A buffing spell. " **ALL HAIL THE SUPREME ONES!** "

Then it explode into magical particles. Zaryusu ran all the way to the village, many were panicking but there was no time for that. The elders and the chieftan was gathered inside of the main hut of the village.

"Brother!" The village chieftan Shasuryu Shasha looked up to his brother.

"Good our traveler is here." Shasuryu stated simply. "Have you ever seen anything like that before brother?" Zaryusu shook his head in the negative. "I was afraid of that. Elder mage what was your opinion of that creature?"

"It was a powerful undead, filled to the brim with magical power, but it was not a permanent existence, like our own spirit beast summons." The elder stated as he decided upon the implication of his words. "It was several marks above anything we are capable of, and it seems that who ever summoned it can cast enhancement magic on it as well. The only conclusion I can reach is that we are dealing with a enemy of unprecedented power and scale." Several murmurs went throughout the hut at once. "We need to prepare to evacuate and fight. The evacuee's will consist of the children, with enough adults to look after all of them." Shasuryu stated without compromise. "The others will have to remain and fight."

"As we currently are we will lose that fight." As Zaryusu spoke he stabbed his weapon, Frost Pain, into the ground at the center of the room, reminding everyone there of why they should listen to him. "But I believe that our odds will increase if we make alliances with the other four tribes."

"Yes, having more bodies to throw at the enemy does sound like it will increase our odds of survival." The head hunter stated crossing his arms. "But what makes you think the other tribes are involved with this?"

"Didn't you hear what that thing said? It said that we would be the second sacrifice. That means that at least one other tribe will be sacrificed as well." Zaryusu was confident in his assertions.

"Are you sure that will work? Dragon Tusk took in the survivors of the Yellow Speckle and Sharp Edge tribes that we wiped out after all." The elder druid asked her wrinkled voice testifying to her wisdom. "Even if it's the only way to survive, reason might not be enough to win them over."

"You leave Dragon Tusk and Red Eye to me." Zaryusu stated without hesitation. "Since we've aligned ourselves with Small Fang and Razor Tail in the past I'll leave those two to you lot."

"You are the traveler Zaryusu, where should we evacuate to when the time comes?" Shasuryu asked sizing his brother up and down.

"The north and the south are no good, go east or west." Leaving that advice, Zaryusu left to pack his things for a couple night's travel.

"Brother, are you planning something?" The Chieftan had followed Zaryusu to the lake side where Zaryusu was making preparations.

"You've seen the signs too, the increased skirmishes with the other tribes. War will be here soon with or without these 'supreme ones.' Where ever we evacuate to, we must do so as one tribe." Saying that, Zaryusu turned to his brother with a serious look on his face. "How many?"

"10 warriors 12 hunters 3 priests 70 males one hundred females and the children." Shasuryu stated letting out a sigh.

"Alright then, I'll let them know." Saying that the traveler was already on his way on the back of a Hydra with a third of as many heads as it should have.

* * *

The first of his two stops was to the Red Eye tribe, known for it's powerful albino magic casters. After arriving outside the gates Zaryusu was not greeted by the chief as he had expected but rather one of the elders and informed that he would be brought before 'the one who holds the tribe together.' While Zaryusu mulled over the implications of those words and these events he had witnessed he was brought before the chieftan's house. When he entered he was greeted by the single most beautiful being he had ever seen: A white skinned lizard woman.

"Ah, ah..."

"Greetings Zaryusu traveler of the Green Claw tribe." The white skinned beauty stated as she bowed her head. "I am Crusch Lulu, acting chieftan of the Red Eye tribe." Raising her head again, Crusch hadn't failed to notice that Zaryusu hadn't spoke yet and was frozen stiff with shock. "So even legendary bearer of Frost Pain is frightened by my appearance eh?" Crusch replied in a defeated tone of voice. Frightened was the last thing that Zaryusu was thinking about though as he stumbled forward and let out a high pitched cry otherwise known as a lizard man mating call. It took a minuet for the traveler to realize what he had done and regain his composure.

"Oh my apologies!" Now Zaryusu was the one prostrating before Crusch.

"Yes well now that you're done that I believe we have matters that need to be discussed." Crusch stated somewhat angered by Zaryusu's display. "I believe you are here about the summoned..."

"Please Marry Me." Once again Lulu and Zaryusu were left completely stunned by the actions of the Green Claw Representative.

"WAAAHHH!" It took some time for the two of them to calm down.

"Marry you!?" Crusch asked looking stupefied, her tail wagging wildly behind her.

"That isn't the reason why I came here mind you." Zaryusu on the other hand was speaking calmly, which gave Crusch the impression that all of this was some maddening plot to put her at a disadvantage in whatever negotiations he was here for. "But I cannot ignore such strong feelings of love."

"Ah... ah." Crusch was definitely panicking now, her tail was going wild her white face had turned red and dizzying swirl's had appeared in her eyes. "Of course I don't expect a answer now, we need to get to know each other first." Zaryusu was trying to regain his own composure and was doing a better job at it then she was.

"Right! Right!" Crusch sounded a little too eager to change the topic right now. "What is the real reason you came here?"

"I came to discuss a mutual enemy of ours." Zaryusu stated crossing his arms. "His messenger called us the 'second sacrifices.'"

"Hmm. We're the 'fourth sacrifices.'" Crusch stated nodding her head. "I'll be blunt: I don't think we can survive in a head on fight. Compared to the other tribes our direct combat ability is very low."

"Agreed, which is the reason why we're making a effort to make a alliance with all the tribes." Zaryusu stated prompting Crusch to tilt her head to the side. "The monster we saw used fear to keep all of us from attacking it, as druid's your people can counteract it's abilities."

"Yes but... wouldn't be better to run away instead of fighting?" Crusch asked looking concerned.

"I've thought about that possibility. Where ever we go we're likely to end up in the same place, away from the farms where we grow our food and the resources we've come to rely on. The area will also be unfamiliar to us with a variety of creatures we will not be familiar with. Do you remember what happened when we first made this lake our home?" Zaryusu asked cocking a brow suspiciously.

"Five of the tribes made war with each other, suffering from severe depopulation with two being wiped out and integrated into another." Crusch stated realizing the implications.

"If the five tribes try to take the same area then this time we are likely to wipe each other out this time, likewise if we try to fight we are also likely to be wiped out, therefore the only version of these events where we avoid extinction is in which we both fight and run away." Zaryusu explained calmly in a however appropriately cold blooded tone of voice.

"You mean to say that...?" Crusch was taken aback with shock with the revelation.

" _If_ we survive, we survive as one tribe. _When_ we fight we'll have more bodies to fight with, and more ways to hit back and defend ourselves. _When_ we run away and resettle we will do so with our combined skill sets and we won't fight among ourselves for the scraps." Zaryusu looked outside, where he saw fruit bearing trees and mud walls surrounding the village. "I brought along a gift to sweeten the negotiations." Saying that, Zaryusu unfolded a length of leather and unwrapped two large fish. Based on the look on Crusch's face, she hasn't seen a fish in a while.

"So then, where did these come from?" Crusch asked looking at the fat morsels curiously.

"A fish farm of my own design. Netting and wooden supports trap them in a select area of the lake, certain algaes are grown on the surface, inedible to us, but delicious to them, they grow fat on the stuff, and we grow fat on them. If that algae can be grown using the same methods used for the those plants..."

"Then the amount of fish that can be grown will rise greatly!" Crusch came to the same conclusion as Zaryusu.

"And those walls over there look sturdy enough to fend off most of the beasts living to the south." Zaryusu stated aware of the implications of what he was saying.

"Which will allow for a larger village population sustained on your fish!" Crusch exclaimed and in the excitement having jumped to her feet.

"So I take it that means you agree to our proposal?" Crusch sat back down at Zaryusu's question.

"How many are you planning to evacuate?" Crusch asked her tone of voice indicated that it was a difficult question.

"10 warriors 12 hunters 3 priests 70 males one hundred females and the children."

Crusch inhaled and then exhaled.

"The proportions of our village is a little different, we'll fight but we'll need more time before we evacuate." Was the acting chieftan's reply.

"Good. Another question then. I recall that the Red Eye tribe didn't participate in the tribe wars from before, if you know of a way to keep our resources from being strained I'd like to hear it." Zaryusu noted the way that Crusch's face scrunched up when he asked that.

"Even though we can use magic to grow those plants, the taste is bad and the amount grown is very little. Of the then seven tribes our fighting power was and still is the weakest, if we participated in the war we would have been wiped out. Around that time our past chief implemented a number of laws the punishment for which was always exile. Whenever he took one of our tribesmen away he would always come back with a big chunk of fresh red meat. We knew where the meat was coming from but we never said anything." Though the lizardmen didn't believe in any god, they were still deeply religious, and cannibalism was a serious offense to them. "For a time, we accepted the source of fresh meat given to us. The chief had solved our two biggest problems to our survival in one fell swoop: over population and lack of food. But enough was eventually enough." Crusch put her hand on her chest. "The people of my tribe are named for the occasional individual who is born an albino, we have much higher magical power then those around us, so we have a place of authority too. I used that to lead a rebellion against the old chief, after slaughtering each other there was enough non lizard man based food to go around." Crusch was visibly upset about this, her chieftan had to make a bad decision in order for his people to survive, and now as acting chieftain she had to make a similar decision. "Alright: We'll fight!"

* * *

 **Review Section** :

rmarcano321: Can't argue with that. That I did. That it was. It was a bit of a oversight on my part, I thought it was only logical to have a silent monk accompany Kieran and Nabe was the adventuring companion. But I too miss hearing Nabe talk too, But I've got a idea for a work around. Well I had three potential mates for the second Overlord which meant three siblings to work with. I took the aspects of Ainz Ooal Gown, the Mage, the Warrior and the manager and I divided them into three separate characters. Primarily it is adventure, Kieran did it simply because, and Kieran wanted to fight Shalltear, simple as that. Maybe but they have to be made/found/brought over for a reason first.

Chronos0305: Good to be back. A little different not much, if I can think of a reason to include Netherghul's then I will, as I said already I like the concept of tailor made Undead. As for good Ol Stupid minions, I'll look into it but it will be a while.


	21. Chapter 21

**Author's Note** : So Internets still down, I'm working off of data right now, writing is going to be... complicated for a few days. So Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy because I can't guarantee that I'm going to be able to post another one next week.

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Chapter 21: The Final Preparations

The Former Wise King of the Forest officially had a proper name now, The Wise King of the Forest was merely a title after all, and Hamster as it came to learn was the name of it's species, now it was known as Hamsuke, a product of Koriander's Naming sense. She wasn't sure how but in addition to her new name Hamsuke had a variety of new abilities added onto her now, even though most of those abilities stemmed from physical augmentation type spells. But the Hamster would be getting more abilities soon, as made evident by the fact that her masters saw fit to employ the use of an instructor to teach her those abilities.

"Who are you?"

The instructor, a small built but muscular man with blue hair and large pointed ears who was sitting on a rock sharpening his Katana, surrounded by Minions.

"I'm Brain, I'm suppose to teach someone named 'Hamsuke' Martial Arts?" The man named Brain stated as he assessed the individual in front of him with a knowing defeated look.

"Tis I Hamsuke!" The Hamster replied putting her paws on her hips and puffing her chest proudly.

"I'm the subordinate of a bench and instructor to a magical talking rat and a pack of goblins. What has my life come to?"

After Shalltear bit Brain she had him transported to Nazarick, while still a undead he was thrown into a pit of liquid magic where his new physiology absorbed the toxic material along side the essence of Dwarfs and Elves transforming him into a Dwelf Dhampire, as it had been explained to him. He was told that as a result of his new found enhancements he was ten times tougher, had limitless stamina, fifteen times stronger, six times faster and had dramatically augmented senses of hearing, vision and smell, in exchange he had to regularly consume blood and was now the unwilling slave of a Vampire who for some reason had been demoted to the status of Bench since his untimely death.

"Either way get ready." Brain looked up to see a demon appear from the balcony above them. "The training's simple, they summon monsters greatly stronger then us, augmentation magic is used on us to enhance our abilities several times over, we fight, then we use accelerated healing Martial Arts to recover and repeat it all over again."

"Ah..." Easier said then done, as Hamsuke immediately froze upon hearing that terrifying series of events. Once the giant Hamster thought herself invincible, then she met two beings in one night stronger then her, one ludicrously strong, with ludicrously strong subordinates. The idea of a monster summon produced by such beings much stronger then her terrified her.

"Once you've gone a couple of rounds we'll begin your Martial Arts training, for now it looks like you've got some magic, I suggest using it."

"Right! Right!" Hamsuke nodded her head rapidly, flexing her arms and hunching over the magic symbols on Hamsuke's body started glowing.

" _Physical Boost!_ " The voice of Koriander sounded as if a seal on one of her spells had been released. " _Quick March! Barrier Armor! Reinforce Armor! Rabbit Foot! Minor Demonic Possession! Fly!_ "

Now Hamsuke was wreathed in a armor of multi-layer augmenting spells and her muscles were bulging with new power, so this is what happens when you take a monster and teach it how to use magic.

" **Here. I. Come!** " The demonic sounding hamster stated as she growled menacingly.

Likewise the diabolist demon finish with his summoning spell, and produced a huge fat green demon with many wailing faces on it: an Over Eating.

"Fire Weapon!"

Shouting that, a Minion held up one of it's staffs towards the pair, and suddenly Brain's sheathed sword glowed with the magic of fire, at the same time both of Hamsuke's front paws and tail, her weapons, were set aflame. Hamsuke landed a punch to the head of the over eating and dazed it slightly, but the demon countered by lashing out a tongue to pull the hamster down that fat throat. A rapid series of strikes were loosed from Hamsuke's tail at the fat target's weak spots, the numerous faces on it's bloated stomach, while the Hamster continued to punch the demon in it's face with her fiery fists.

"She's totally stealing my thunder..." Was all that Brain could say to the epic battle between a giant fire rat and a huge demon. "Since I'm a counter attack style, unless my enemy attacks first then my new technique can't be tested."

As if he heard his dissatisfied voice, The diabolist summoned a second Over Eating, and this one was right on top of Brain. The light of the summoning magic hadn't even disappeared yet before Brain made his move. Combining two of his three strongest Martial Arts: Field and Four Fold Slash of Light, Brain accurately slashed the ligaments of the Over Eating bringing it to it's knees, before using God Slash to rip out the throat of the demon, causing it to spurt blood and bleed out before disappearing as quickly as it appeared. Then the Diabolist summoned another Over Eating.

"So what? I can create twelve of these per day, did you think you were getting off with one each? In fact..." Two more Over Eating's appeared in the little arena. "And for my next trick." Followed shortly thereafter by two packs of hellhounds. "Don't disappoint your sponsors the supreme ones now. I expect to see you fight with everything you've got: your lives depend on it!"

So what of something of this level? Brain had limitless stamina after all, so long as didn't get injured he could slaughter monsters like this twenty four hours a day.

* * *

Two high tier insect type warriors were carrying something that had been bundled in cloth and tied using twine and brought before Koriander in her laboratory.

"Excellent!" Saying that, Koriander opened the back and revealed the body of a lizardman, according to the tag it came from the Red Eye Tribe. "Assess item." In order to turn something into a specific kind of undead, that person or creature had to meet certain requirements. For example, to produce a Skeleton mage, the subject had to have a large amount of mana, for a Death Squire it would need to possess a strong sturdy body. And to Koriander's delight, this one had both. "Excellent, you will be the first test subject of this little beauty!" Koriander held up a spell book, for month's she was compiling information about various kinds of undead, and now she had a chance to conduct her experiments: A arcane warrior type undead. "Hmm. A cannibal too eh? I haven't prepared a spell that includes Wendigo yet, and it's been mummified too, decisions decisions no matter, this shall be a great occasion." Saying that, Koriander decided to put her experiment on hold for now, so that she could prepare a spell that would make the best use of traits from multiple kinds of undead. Then she stopped. "Hm. The more complex the spell, the less likely it will work." On the one hand, this corpse was too valuable to waste on making a low tier undead, but on the other hand it was also too valuable to risk by making stupid mistakes, and on the other other hand it held no value what so ever if they did nothing with it, therefore Koriander needed to first assess the true value of the corpse. "I assume that Cocytus waited until the village that this came from evacuated before he had you bring this to me correct?" A huge Praying Mantis nodded it's head in response. "Good. Bring me the rest, but don't touch any of the living lizard men, we need living specimens to participate in the battle experiment." Nodding it's head, the bug man went back out.

* * *

Zaryusu used a messenger bird to send word back to his village that they had secured an alliance with Red Eye, likewise he had also received a message that Small Fang and Razor Tail were in and they were gathering at Green Claw to mount their defense, thus Crusch had also sent her forces back to Green Claw to begin building her sturdy defensive walls while the rest evacuated to the sight that Small Fang had scouted in the west. Now came the hard part, Dragon Tusk. Among those currently living there were the survivors of Sharp Edge, whose chief Zaryusu had slain and claimed Frost pain in the process, obviously they would be holding a grudge, but the plan was to win over the Dragon Tusk members, who valued strength more than anything else, through Martial skill.

"Is that the Dragon Tusk camp?" A plant monster that was riding Rororo and holding Zaryusu from behind asked looking at the approaching camp. This plant creature was Crusch Lulu, Red Eye's acting Chieftan. Due to her Albinoism, she couldn't be exposed to direct sun light less she be severely burned by the light, so instead she cobbled together this bizarre looking outfit.

"Yah, that's there insignia there." Though Zaryusu also noticed the former insignia's of the Yellow Speckle and Sharp edge located just underneath the Dragon Tusk insignia, giving it a very fang like look. "This is as far as you can go friend." Rororo protested Zaryusu leaving it's side but it couldn't be helped, riding a hydra into another tribe's village could ultimately only be interpreted as an act of aggression. The two Lizard men approached the gate and made their piece. "I am Zaryusu Traveler of the Green Claw Tribe!" The lizardman in question shouted prompting angry stares from the other Lizard men.

"I am Crusch Lulu Acting Chief of the Red Eye Tribe!" The plant like lizard woman in question shouted as well.

Someone seemed to take notice of all the shouting, someone who was using a halberd to prod the other lizardmen out of the way.

"And I am Zenberu Gugu, Chief of Dragon Tusk." He said chief, but he wore the mark of a traveler, and that halberd which lizardmen did not have the capacity or resources to make was proof of that, also he wore the marks of a warrior, huge scars that went the length of his massive body, branded by battle. His right arm was disproportionately larger then the other whether it was disease, a mutation or through sheer training was lost on Zaryusu. "I have hoped to meet you for a long time bearer of Frost Pain."

"Were you part of sharp edge in the past?" Zaryusu asked realizing they were very close to botching these negotiations. "Nah. After I lost to that guy I became a traveler to become stronger and when I got back I beat the old chief and then they made me the new one." Zenberu explained simply. "Now I wanna settle my grudge against the guy who use to own that blade." Zenberu pointed to Frost Pain using his halberd. "If you win we'll give you whatever you want." Then he turned his head to address the rest of his tribe. "OI YOU GUYS! IF THIS GUY WINS THEN HE'S THE NEW CHIEF GOT IT!?"

"That simplifies what could otherwise be a complicated mess." Zaryusu stated smirking at his heavily scarred opponent.

The two warriors circled each other, Zenberu had reach with his halberd, but Zaryusu's frost pain had the advantage in power, provided that he could get into close enough range with it. Thus Zaryusu stole the initiative with a leaping stab attack aimed at Zenberu's center mass. Zenberu locked his weapon with the oddly shaped Frost Pain, but then had to face a fight from below as Zaryusu kicked at Zenberu and Zenberu had to dance and counter kick his opponent. Being much smaller then Zenberu Zaryusu was able to maneuver his way underneath the halberd while the two weapons were still locked together and prepared a judo throw to slam Zenberu into the ground. Instead the larger lizard man let go of the Halberd to grab the Traveler from behind and pile drive him into the ground behind them. Zaryusu attempted to use the opportunity to stab Zenberu in his gut but found not soft lizard man flesh but instead hardened armor.

" _A Monk Eh?_ "

Monks were a class of warrior who could augment the hardness of their skin via absorption of excess Ki and relied on unarmed combat, that Halberd was nothing more than a feint all along.

"You're not gonna be able to beat me without relying on that!" Zenberu stated as the two of them separated.

Zaryusu knew that Zenberu was referring to Frost Pain's magic attack Icy Burst, which would freeze their immediate surroundings over, but he could not use that item's power casually. In fact now that Zenberu had dropped his feint and moved into close quarters combat Zaryusu had the clear advantage. The two went at it again, the claws on that oversize fist glowed with Ki as Zenberu slammed that hardened mass of meat against Zaryusu, who in turn blocked with Frost Pain, the two went at it like that for a while, Zaryusu being pushed back to the entrance of the village defending with Frost Pain while Zenberu kept up those aggressive attacks with that oversize right arm. To the untrained eye, it looked like Zaryusu was losing this fight.

"It's my lost."

But a close look revealed that Frost Pain's icy abilities has created a layer of white frost on that big heavy arm, which combined with his brute force approach to this fight created the very real possibility that he would smash it into powdery lizard man flesh. Now that the battle was over the plant monster ran over to the pair of lizard men and poked out the head and arms of a white lizard woman.

"Hold still I'll Heal you." A magic circle appeared from Crusch's hands the green light of healing enveloped Zaryusu's body, even though he won Zaryusu still suffered from a concussion, bruises and numerous gashes from hardened lizard man flesh and the like, healing was definitely warranted.

"Ahem." Zenberu sat expectantly down next to Crusch, who took a moment to clue in to what he was doing.

"Oh sorry I'll do you too!" Now that Zaryusu was healed Crusch turned her attention to Zenberu and quickly healed him of his frost bite.

"Now than, to business."

"Agreed." With that, both lizard men said at almost the exact same time...

"We're here to make an alliance."

"What are your orders chief?"

Both Lizard men looked at each other funny.

"What? When a lizard man beats the chief they become the chief isn't that how it works in your village?" Zenberu asked looking like he'd seen something strange.

"We originally came here to seek a alliance with your tribe." Zaryusu stated deciding to drop the matter. "A large undead summon should have appeared above your village a couple of days ago."

"I was asleep while that was happening." Zenberu acknowledge with a shrug of his shoulders.

"We intend to forge an alliance of the five remaining lizard man tribes to try and starve off the threat, and came to ask for your people's help." Zaryusu stated resisting the urge to shake his head.

"I brought back a bunch of dwarfen swords for the guys from Sharp Edge and I've been training everyone on being a monk, we'll make for good front liners." Zenberu stated bluntly.

"We also need to send a group to evacuate in case of the worst, we're allowing the tribes to send all of their children along with enough adults to care and provide for them." Crusch stated realizing that Zaryusu was getting tired talking to the Dragon tusk chief.

"I'll send the kids and a few monks from our side, most of our guys are frontliners so it's better if we focus on defense instead of survival prepping." Zenberu explained shrugging his shoulders.

"Fair enough." Zaryusu stated exhaling tiredly. "Alright, the three of us will ride ahead to Green Claw while the rest of the tribe moves in on foot." Zaryusu stated nodding his head.

"Before yah, go." Zenberu brought out a cask. "Wanna drink?"

* * *

"Lord Cocytus. The Kinsects have reported that the Fourth Lizard man encampment, the Dragon Tusk Tribe, has been evacuated." Hearing that report, Cocytus used a X brand on a section of map depicting the great lakes and the surrounding area, where the name of the Dragon Tusk tribe had been printed.

"Dig. Up. Their. Dead. And. Send. Them. To. Demiurge."

Cocytus had already put a disgraceful performance in front of his master, thankfully he hadn't embarrassed him in front of his siblings. Here he was trying to prove himself a competent commander and he proposes that they simply attack the lizardman fortress with their forces. For his 'home work', Cocytus had been assigned to review the footage from his master's battle with Shalltear and his conclusion? Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. To stack the odds of victory in his favor it was necessary to review the enemy's strength's, weaknesses, weapons, tactics and abilities and plan around them, arming his troops appropriately. His ultimate conclusion was that they were at a disadvantage: His grunts though well trained lacked real battle experience, and were hampered by thick heavy armor in swamp like conditions, in order to siege a enemy fortress one typically needed three times the number of troops compared to the enemy, but he had a one to one situation. The eight day time limit was not only for the lizardmen's benefit but his as well, he was to spend that one week deadline studying how to become a armchair general. Cocytus's pincers clacked together as he continued to think about how to push these odds in his favor: perhaps if this battle was to be an experiment in both his and his troop's competency, then he could convince his masters to expand their experiment in competency.

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 **Review Section** :

rmarcano321: Good to know. Not yet. Aside from Albedo and Koriander, no one in particular. Yes. Supreme beings is about as close as it gets right now. Kori is about as powerful as Ainz, Kieran is Touch Me and Balloma's as smart as Demiurge. World's biggest lab rat. Koriander is insane, Kieran is a battle Crazed lunatic, and Balloma's not too different from Juno.


	22. Chapter 22

**Author's Note** : And the internet's back as of Tuesday, huzzah! Still the entire mess could have been avoided, and I find that rather irksome. No matter, Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy!

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Chapter 22: War's End

Hamsuke was standing in a position similar to a sumo wrestler glaring at her opponent in a show of concentration, the opponent in question was Brain as he circled around the Hamster ready at any moment to strike at her. Suddenly Hamsuke reached out and struck the air in front of her, which resulted in a impact hitting the wall in front of her. No this was not some kind of distance attack, after the strike finished the invisible green Hamsuke had hit revealed itself and stumbled off with a concussion.

"Good, you've seemed to have grasped field." Brain was in the process of teaching the Hamster martial arts after having witnessed her slaughter a group of demons. "But your technique still needs work." Two more greens revealed their presence and they were well within Hamsuke's 'field.'

"Yes Yes! Please teach Hamsuke more!" The Hamster bounced excitedly, before that is she sudden died down and continued in a more subdued tone. "I have to become a worthy mount for Master Kieran." 'Hamsuke' explained in a clear but unenthusiastic tone of voice.

" _So they've been tampering with this thing's head. I need to avoid that._ " Saying that Brain motioned over more of the greens. "We need you to keep working on Field for now, I only know slashing techniques so we should see if we can do those with your tail later." Brain needed to keep himself as useful as inhumanely as possible, these people treated every living thing they came across as subjects in their experiments, he was put on the dissection table once already, he hoped to avoid a return visit. "Once you've built up your life force, we'll look into getting you magic armor, from what I heard one of tho... those humble gods who have deigned to grace us with their presence are working on a way of equipping people with high level gear easy."

Magic gear was simply armor and weapons that had enchantments inscribed on them, they relied on the person who wielded them for power, in other words if a piece of gear was too much for someone to equip the end result could be fatal or failing that simply counter productive, like someone wearing a piece of armor that was too heavy for them or swing a sword that was too badly balanced, equipment that was too powerful was the same as equipment that wasn't powerful enough, useless in combat.

"Either way we should both focus on getting stronger in order to please our masters."

"HAI!"

* * *

Eight days to prepare, the Lizard men used mud and lumber from the nearby forest to build walls and reinforced them with magic, Dragon Tusk's and Razor Tail's forces were gathered outside of those walls alongside any one else who who could fight in close quarters. Small Fang alongside any mid and long range fighters were stationed on top of the wall, ready to strike at the enemy once they came into range with rocks, arrows or spears, Red Eye's mages and the mages of any other tribe were on the other side of the wall, making use of buffing type spells to augment the stats of those on the top and other side of the wall. On the Seventh night they held a big festival and gave everyone hallucinogenic alcohol and told them that what they were seeing were their ancestors come to pay them a visit, to give their blessings to the newly formed alliance and lay all past grudges to rest, ensuring the unity of the tribes in the process. They were as prepared as they were gonna get, all that was left now, was to wait.

"I don't like this." Zaryusu stated as he watched the horizon through a telescope. "People are starting to get restless."

If this matter went on much further, then people would start fighting among themselves. Then as sudden as their declaration's of death had arrived, the enemy made the first move. A huge frozen mist expanded from the Horizon like a bomb, the swamp had been frozen over, and many a lizard Man's foot had been frozen in the now solid muck.

"Ice?" Zaryusu asked looking down at the frozen muck.

Then he heard it, the sound of marching, looking on the Horizon Zaryusu saw a incalculable number of shields on the horizon, they were counting on using the mud to slow them down, but now it didn't look like that would be happening.

"Small Fang!" Small Fang's chief was lean built, his tongue seemed to be permanently leaning out of the side of his mouth, and he had a bow made from a combination of animal skins and branches which he had trained on the enemy. "Wait for them to move into range! Then unleash everything you've got!"

The enemy didn't advance beyond the Horizon, much to the confusion of the defending tribes, but the shield's seemed to split, each one had a jewel that was near the top which then split off and extended into the shaft of a magic staff.

"RUN!"

Zaryusu did not know how someone was able to combine together magic staff and shield, one was a item which could only be used by a warrior, and the other was a item the could only used by a spell caster, two mutually exclusive things. All he did know was that the enemy's range and destructive capacity outweighed their's. Indeed, the staff's howled with a whistling sound as lances of fire were shot towards the sturdy walls of the lizard men fortress that had been thrown up in a week. Most of the range attackers on top of the fortress were able to get off relatively intact, others didn't, and the ones who went first had to contend with their fellows landing on them injuring them in the process. While the range attackers reoriented themselves the enemy soldiers were able to march ahead with impunity across the frozen ice.

"So magic's only for softening us up eh?" Genberu asked glaring at the enemy.

"Can't... help... use... instead."

The Razor Tail chief, Kyuku Zuzu. was covered head to toe in a crude armor made of bone, the White Dragon Bone Armor, a legendary treasure of the lizard men in the same league as Zaryusu's Frost Pain: mostly because they came from the same source. A dying frost dragon crashed into the lake once, Frost Pain was made from it's dying breath, but White Dragon Bone was made from the bits of it's skeleton they were able to dig out from the ice. But that armor came attached with a powerful curse: essentially it turns the intelligence of those who wear it into added durability for itself, and it does not give back what it took even if you remove it. Kyuku was considered a genius before he put the armor on, so currently it had adamantine level hardness, and even after putting it on he still had ridiculous tactical acumen, though his speech tended to slur a bit.

"Wait... for... trap... then... Attack."

It was Kyuku for example who came up with the plan to use Green Claw Village as the staging ground for the battle, being the muddiest location in the swamp the enemy would be slowed down by the mud and then Small Fang could pelt them from range followed by Dragon Tusk finishing them in close quarters. However given the power of the summons that were used to play messenger, they had to account for the possibility that they would some how or another plan around that, hence they prepared Plan B.

"And... Release!"

Kyuku signaled the members of the Red Eye tribe behind what was left of the walls and they activated the trap type spells they had planted in the swamp the night before. Magic circles appeared beneath the invaders, and from them emerged mud golems and Giant mud Crabs. The Mud Golems stopping power was augmented by the ice, and the Mud crabs already had high defense: for a third tier creature that is. The Invaders brought out their swords presumably for Melee purposes, but instead shot lances of fire out of them melting then baking the Mud golems turning them into masses of stone. As summoned monsters, the Mud Crabs lives were already short: That said the invaders still saw fit to wipe them out too with the same ruthless efficiency and the same powerful fire lance spell.

"As... I... Knew."

Anyone capable of summoning monsters of that level wouldn't find mud crabs and mud golems to be much of a threat. Rather they chose to send out disposable summons like that as a means of gauging the enemies strength and tactics, as a added bonus because of the fire attacks the mud had melted again and they were caught up in it.

"Assume... Places."

The spear wielding hunters emerged from the rubble of the walls, at the same time Razor Tail's heavy armor troops and Dragon Tusks sword wielders and monks charged into the fray. The hunters kept at mid range, while the others engages in close quarters combat, there would be no more magic released here, only death to the enemy.

"I thought that dusty old skeleton fried your brain Kyuku, but I gotta admit you're good at this." Zenberu commented watching the battle between the two sides.

The invaders seemed to prioritize the incoming volley of spears over the enemy right in front of them, this made sense, the spears were the heavier damage dealers, and once thrown they were useless to their wielders. However the Dragon Tusk troops had special orders, while their comrades kept the invaders busy they would collect the thrown spears and rush them back to the hunters who could hurl them again. In the mean time the invaders who were busy blocking attacks from above had to deal with melee strikers and thus were forced into a sword fight with Dragon Tusk and Razor Tail. Though they had been made to fight in a awkward position, the invaders armor was still clearly the superior and they were loosing more troops then what they were taking.

"Send... heal."

Reluctantly, Kyuku commanded that the healers move out in order to support the lizard men close combatants, less they perish and they lose their defenders. Still with the support of the healers they could stand a greater chance. It seemed that their foes had dramatically underestimated them as the enemy started to fall back, or at least it seemed that way as some of the invaders chose to stay while the others pulled back.

"Kill... the... retreat!"

Too little, Too late. The invaders sheathed their weapons in their shields with a click sound, then they picked up their weapons like they still intended to swing them around, but with a spring sound they turned into huge battle axes, then they started to shriek as they vibrated with huge damage dealing power.

"Retreat!"

The defending invaders moved aside to let their compatriots through, the lizard men used that opportunity to retreat while the hunters stepped up their pelting of their spears. One of the invaders slammed their weapon into the ice and launched a wave of frozen mud at the Lizard men, snow blinding them, stunning them briefly. But Brief enough. Several lizard men were bisected clean in half when the invaders slammed their huge magic axes into them.

"Chiefs... move!"

Zaryusu moved out from the walls and the back of his four headed hydra the various chiefs joined him on Rororo's back and together they charged at the enemy group.

"You aren't taking anymore of us you buggers!" The Small Fang Chief pulled his bow and loosed arrows into the heads of the enemy.

"We're not your only enemy!" Crusch released a mass of magic and produced a magic circle beneath the invaders, from which another giant mud crab had been produced to loom above their heads.

The ax wielding invaders chopped down the mud crab with ease, but they were much too slow. Zaryusu fired frost pain at the enemy freezing them, weakening the integrity of their armor, then Rororo grabbed Kyuku, whose armor was as strong as adamantite, with one of it's heads and slammed him into the enemy like a bludgeon dealing large amounts of crushing damage.

"Kyuku! Are you okay?" Crusch asked looking at the Razor Tail Chief.

"Again!" Like that Rororo used their strongest weapon, the Razor Tail chief wrapped in adamantine level armor, to smash the invaders who had been frozen over into bits while Crusch healed his body. After a long bloody attack, the enemy was finally dead.

"At least it's finally over." Zenberu commented as he supported Kyuku as Crusch healed him. But to his displeasure, he noted that Zaryusu was still on guard. "What is it?"

"There's still more, something has to be in charge of these things!" Zaryusu stated as he scanned the horizon for any trace of the battlefield commander.

* * *

Across the swamp, Aura could be seen sighing in disappointment.

"Ah well, good riddance to bad garbage."

Letting out that disappointed sigh, Aura opened the coffin next to her and released from within a monster of legendary proportions on the same level as the Death Knight: A Soul Eater, a skeletal mount covered in yellow, black and green smoke that gets stronger the more it kills, and this was not just any Soul Eater either, as demonstrated by the tell tale horn sticking out from it's head, this was a Unicorn Soul Eater.

"Even if Mistress Koriander made it, this thing still creeps me out."

That was a natural reaction, for this very same Unicorn was responsible for turning Shalltear into a berserking Dhampire who tried to kill Lord Kieran.

"Oh well, since you work for us now, go over there and do your job."

As a beast tamer Aura possessed various skills to enhance upon a creature's natural abilities, so she was the one sent to deploy this Soul Eater.

* * *

"Oi what is that?" The Small Fang Chief stated looking at the horizon. Zaryusu looked in the same direction as the chief, and immediately his eyes went wide with terror. "RUN!"

No one argued with the traveler and all of the lizard men grabbed their wounded and ran back to the village.

"Quickly get a barricade up! Don't let it get in!"

The mud melted as the Soul Eater walked by, but it didn't turn to water, rather it smoked and dissolved away as the liquids turned into acids, not only that, but they then entered the bodies of the slain lizard men and invaders as their bodies suddenly convulsed, and rose on their own, a undead who mass raises other undead. "Soul Eater..." An undead who once wiped out three hundred demihumans by itself, and this one was even more powerful then the creatures of legend it had heard about. Not only that, but in direct contrast to how undead reanimation and acid are suppose to work, their injuries were rapidly healing themselves, it was hard to believe that these were their allies cleaved by giant battle ax's.

"Get away from them!"

Then to his horror, Zaryusu saw the undead invaders ready both their staff shields and their staff swords and aimed them at the Green Claw village. The lances of flame shrieked as they went through the air, and made loud booming noises as they crashed down taking lizardmen with them.

* * *

When Crusch woke up she saw that she had been surrounded, not by the undead but by humans, or at least human like monsters. One was dressed as a black knight, a second as a marooned cloaked Magician, the third was a noble woman. At some point in time they had piled the corpses of her slain brethren on top of one another and were now lounging on them while they looked down on her.

"Who are..." Crusch face planted as she tried to get up, looking down she saw that she was missing a arm and a leg, blown or blasted off she wasn't sure, but still she looked to the three who perpetrated the massacre of her people. "What do you want? Why did you do this?"

"We were conducting a experiment to test the viability of our forces, your people made for convenient punching bags." Balloma stated shrugging her shoulders.

"Th-That was it?" Crusch asked rage seeping into her voice.

"Yes, but now we have a new offer we'd like to make: We found your holding out against our people for so long mildly impressive, so we would like to offer the choice of bondage or death." Then the noble woman gestured to the field of dead lizardmen. "Obviously, you understand what the default option is yes?"

"Y-You killed them already!" Crusch shouted pain setting in and mixing with anger.

"A minor triviality. We have the means to resurrect them but not if they're unwilling, we also need someone to help us talk down the other group as well." Saying that, the warrior threw a patch of lizardman hide onto the ground that had the brand of the chief marked into it, they already took the other group that was meant to evacuate. "I make two offers, complete extinction, or prosperity through servitude. I honestly don't care which one you choose but I suggest you make one." Balloma stated with a shrug of her shoulders as she checked for dirt under her finely manicured nails. "The longer you wait, the more they are going to suffer."

* * *

Zaryusu was confused, this was not the land of his ancestors, he barely recognized it at all, everything was on fire and his various lizard man brethren were all lined up as far as he could see. Various people were hanging from the walls and being hanged from the walls, skeletal torch bearer's appeared in front of them as they used those torches of black flame to light those people hanging from the walls on fire, causing them to scream.

"What... what is this place?"

"They can't keep doing this!" One disgruntled skeleton growled in displeasure. "We almost had to change the 'first hundred years as a torch' rule the last time they committed a massacre! We're never going to get around to torturing all of these dumb geckos!"

"Zaryusu, please come home!" Zaryusu then saw a gate open ahead of him, shining brilliant light.

"Oh someone's calling them back?"

"Well it's better then trying to process them all!" Saying that the skeletons grabbed the dead lizardmen and pushed them back through the way they came.

* * *

Zaryusu awoke with a gasp, and looked around him, skeletons in robes were standing over lizardmen corpses, but with a wave of their hands their bodies convulsed as they were returned to the land of the living. Zaryusu was lying down on his back as a teary eyed Crusch comforted him, in the mean time the other slain chief's were being brought back too, all except for his brother Shasuryu who had been brought there in chains, the patch of skin on his shoulder that denoted him as chief had been cut off.

"Now than former chiefs of the lizardmen alliance." A huge insect warrior held the three formerly dead chief's in each of it's clawed hands and pinned them to the ground with ice. "There will be a few changes from here on out." A dark skinned noble woman was lounging in front of the assembled chiefs. "First and foremost, your tribes are officially dissolved, and you will be ruled by this fellow: Cocytus." The bug man tightened his grip and clicked his mandibles in acknowledgement. "Now I know that you all feel dissatisfied being ruled by a foreigner, so we've also appointed one of your own to serve as Cocytus's administrative assistant." Out from the poisoned marshes, the corpse of a mummified lizard man wrapped in a mages robes walked, freezing the liquid around him as he went. "Some of you may recall the former chief of the Red Eye Tribe yes?"

"Greetings, fellow lizardmen."

Crusch had this horrified look on her face, justifiable yes but not the point.

"Now that we're all acquainted lets do something about this mess. Koriander if you will?" The mage smiled as she walked out to the busted hole in the wall, from her feet a huge magic circle emerged which then expanded above her. After several minuets of casting, the culmination of that magic took place and all of the acidic poison had been expelled from the swamp and replace with crystal clear water that seemed to radiate with with healing energy. "Now, you should understand that failure to meet any of our instructions will result in the lot of you being thrown back to where we found you. That said, here is what you are to do."

* * *

Collars with broken chains attached were all thrown at the feet of the lizard men and they wordlessly put them on. Under Cocytus's administration each of the issues that plagued the individual tribes were listed: Food Shortage, attacks from surrounding monsters and rival demihuman tribes, as well as a number of minor ailments. Golems from Nazarick came and selectively filled parts of the swamp with stone and built sturdy walls on top of them, on top of those were watch towers where Small Fang archers were stationed, no beasts or rivals would threaten them now. Next a dark elf child went to the lake and cast magic that caused a huge algae bloom, a second child, the sibling to the first, used her own skills to throw the fish into a mating frenzy and soon the entire lake was brimming with fresh, fat, fish. Healing potions were brought over and used to cure whatever disease ailed them and a designated area was set up where the lizard men were assigned the daily task of eliminating summoned monsters. A deep and profoundly confused Zaryusu went to the chief's home where Cocytus and his so called Nether Ghul had set up their little office where they made reports back to their masters.

"Master Cocytus." Zaryusu knelled in the doorway and Cocytus indicated with his hand that he had permission to stand. "If I could be so bold to ask: why have your masters chosen to aid us?"

"You. Have. Potential." Cocytus stated clicking his mandibles together. "They. Did. Not. Wish. To. See. You. Destroy. Yourselves." And yet they wiped them out anyway. "You. Only. Listen. To. Force. Now. You. Will. Live. And. Realize. That. Potential." Zaryusu nodded his head in gratitude.

Simply put, Cocytus told the truth, they would have wiped themselves out without the threat of total extinction on their doorstep, not only that but with the resources they were assigned they could now prosper. With the understanding of what the future now looked like, the Lizardman went to the training area.

* * *

"That went better then expected." Koriander stated, sitting on the nose of the Frost Dragon skeleton they had just drenched up from the bottom of the lake.

"Most of our forces were slaughtered." Balloma snapped in displeasure.

"But we found this fellow, and Cocytus has grown." Kieran pointed out gesturing to the frost dragon.

"Well, compared to the Dragon Dwelfs the Dhampire Dwelf seems to be superior specimen. But I attribute that to training not a product of Demiurge's workmanship." Balloma stated as she shook her head in disappointment.

"There's also the Soul Eater." Koriander stated as smirked evily. "I wonder what those unicorns will think of someone that can raise the dead the same way they enslave our minions."

"I wonder what they will think of the experiments you've been conducting on our minions." Kieran grumbled knowing that he shared that curiosity.

"Shall we conduct another test? There's a colony of Toadmen across the lake from here." Koriander stated petting the dragon with that big smirk on her face.

"Give me a break both of you."

* * *

 **Review Section** :

rmarcano123: He's working on it. A dead body usually stays a dead body, but a live body can be made dead so they're the more useful of the two. Oh yes, 'special' plans indeed, though their fates won't quite be as cruel as some of the ones I've got planned. Koriander knows all of Ainz's necromancy spells along with a large number of his buffing and offensive type spells.

Chronos0305: Good for you. Yes.


	23. Chapter 23

**Author's Note** : Got nothing to say right now, but a word to the wise, I do try to answer as many questions as I can within the story itself, you can probably save yourselves some time if you just read it. Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy.

* * *

Chapter 23: Sebas Makes a Friend

After several days out Kieran finally returned to the adventurer's guild where he received his due payment for the matter with the basilisk. By now Kieran has met all the major merchants, established himself with nobles, and given blessings to several dozen babies. He needed to get out of the backwater starter town and move deeper within the Kingdom.

"Ah Kieran sir." Kieran turned to the receptionist and cocked her a strange look. "The guild master wants to see you at the temple, he says it's urgent."

Kieran walked outside of the guildhall and met with the Giant Hamster.

"Did Koriander do something weird to you while I wasn't looking?" Kieran stated looking at the side of the Hamster.

"No. Why do you ask Master?" Hamsuke asked turning her head to see Kieran.

"Your magic symbols are different." Kieran replied getting on the back of Hamsuke.

"I must become a worthy mount for you master." Hamsuke stated in a monotonous voice.

"So she did do something weird to you." Kieran stated a little bit annoyed. "Whatever how fast can you get to the temple?" Kieran asked pointing at the temple on the hill off in the distance.

"Leave it to me Master!" The Hamster flexed his muscles and two of the magic circles started to glow. "Fly! Quicken Haste!" Saying that, much to the jaw dropping shock of those around them, Hamster floated into the air and took off at a accelerated rate.

"The Wise King of the Forest can fly?" A iron plate adventurer asked as if trying to confirm that he wasn't seeing things, and the receptionist nodded her head in response.

Without the need to navigate the busy streets of E-Rantle and the power of magically accelerated flight Hamsuke was easily capable of reaching the temple in no time, even if the sight of a adamantine plated warrior flying around on the back of a hamster was seen as ridiculous he couldn't deny the effectiveness as a means of transportation, but they had to do something about this appearance: Fuzzy was not dignified.

"We're here master." Hamsuke stated as she touched down in front of the temple.

"Good work." Kieran jumped off of Hamsuke's back and entered through the front doors of the temple, greeted to the sight of the Guild Master who was having a troubled discussion with several guards and priests.

"Kieran! Come quick something has happened while you were away!" Kieran was led to a morgue, where the guild master pulled open a couple of empty drawers where corpses would normally be kept. "They're gone! The Bodies of the 'Plate Hunter' and the Necromancer you fought!" Kieran was about to ask who but a Green helpfully informed him of the situation.

"I understand. Continue." Kieran stated now with a vague understanding of the ants that he had stepped on a while back. "I assume that since these two were so dangerous that you kept this place under lock and Key?"

This particular place was Morgue, Prison and Vault all rolled into one. If a person dies suddenly and violently then they run a high risk of transforming into a undead, doubly so considering the experiments they were conducting, so it was necessary to hold onto bodies for a period of time before burial, hence a morgue and a prison. At the same time with resurrection magic one could bring the dead back to life if they had the body of the deceased in question, hence a vault.

"That is correct." The Guild Master stated pandering his hands in worry.

"Any evidence of a break in? Dead bodies, bribes, picked locks?" If they had forced their way in, there should the corpses of the guards, if they had bribed there way in then the temple's books should not match their accounts, if someone had simply sneaked in then the lock should have been picked by the thieves.

"The guards haven't been able to find any evidence of a break in." The Guild Master stated worry clear in his tones.

"Then they simply just resurrected themselves." Something ground to a halt in the Guild Master's head at that casual statement.

"Wha...?"

"You can make a contract with certain places to return to that spot whenever you die." Kieran explained as he shrugged his shoulders. "It's not like it's that hard, you just need to get a receiver set up." The flabbergasted guild master watched as Kieran turned around and left after dropping that information. "Either way I don't like leaving a job half finished, so I'll go out and find those two for yah." Kieran stated turning around and waving his hand as he left. Kieran climbed onto the back of Hamsuke who noticed that Kieran's mood had taken a turn for the worst.

"Is something the matter master?" Hamsuke asked cocking one of her hamster brows.

"Take us high into the air, I don't want eaves droppers." Once he knew he was clear, Kieran used the message function in his helmet. "Kori, you still got that gang of necromancers you picked up a little while back?" Kieran asked with one of his fingers on his helmet.

"Of course brother, is something the matter?" Koriander asked from the other end of the spell.

"Two of their people tried to invade this city around the time that Shalltear went nuts, I put them down but they disappeared, did your people bring them back to life or something?" Kieran asked sounding rather annoyed.

"Hmm. I could see Zurannon bringing two of their own back to life." Koriander commented the look on her face indicating that she was pondering something.

"Have them grab them. It's time that we did a little bit of purging of the ranks." Kieran stated rather ominously.

Saying that, both Kieran and Hamsuke suddenly fell out of the sky and crashed in the middle of the city streets, Kieran barely flipped them over and caught the Hamster that was suppose to be carrying him in time.

"Sorry master! But I ran out of energy!" Hamsuke did her best to beg for forgiveness while she was upside down on Kieran's shoulder.

"Can't be helped." The hamster after all wasn't a dedicated magic caster, so her magic capacity was lower then someone who was. "We'll just have to go monster hunting then."

* * *

The City of Death as it was called, two decades ago the top of the twelve executives of Zurannon performed the magic ritual Spiral of Death and converted this place into a city of the dead and himself into a elder lich. Even though most of the people in this cult of death were human, the city itself was largely inhabited by simple low tier undead that were essentially used as a means by which to transform more people into elder lichs, but only the truly strong had been able to manage that. A few month's ago, that had all changed suddenly, a massacre occurred in the nation that belonged to Zurannon's hated enemy the Slane Theocracy and a large number of powerful high ranked undead had formed as a result from the high quality raw material that was the citizens of the Empire's Upper echelons and numerous demi-humans and the number of original Zurannon Members had been taken over by the flood of undead. Now however things had suddenly taken a turn, when the new undead suddenly grabbed everyone within the city, living or dead, and brought them outside the city walls, where they found a magic caster, a brown elderly goblin with numerous reds carrying magic staffs surrounding them, and a warrior in black armor waiting for them.

"Is this all of them?" The mage woman asked looking at the various individuals who had been brought before her.

"Yes Lady Koriander. We have scoured every inch of this city for the ones who displeased Lord Kieran." The Warrior in black with a feminine figure replied bowing her head.

It was Albedo, she was wearing the armor Koriander had made for her. Succubi were creatures that were known for high levels of defense in spite of their feminine appearance, which in her case had been stacked with numerous defensive magic tattoos that protected from low tier magic and neutered mid tier magic, on top of that the armor had three layers to it: Red Slime, or health slime which served as gambison and healed her of any injury while reducing the amount of damage she took from impacts, Adamantine armor which neutered any physical attack dealt to her and had high damage absorbtion capabilities, and the third layer was a series of enchantments that would destroy or failing that disrupt incoming magic spells. To top it off, she also possessed numerous martial arts that focused on defense and counter attack. In other words, Albedo was like a super high efficiency damage sponge, the most excellent bodyguard they could afford to bring along, the plan was that if Zurannon did try to do something Albedo would take the hit and then the reds would retaliate with fiery carpet bombing together with their allied undead and wipe the lot of them out. But it didn't look like it would be necessary, their enemy was on their knees before them, so the time had come for a little bit of divine intervention.

"Greetings members of the cult Zurannon, I am a envoy of the god of death, Ainz Ooal Gown, Koriander Ooal Gown." Koriander lifted the sides of her robe up and did a curtsy to the kneeling undead. "It's a pleasure to meet you all. Now it has come to my attention that the lot of you are worshiping a false god and calling him the God of Death. Naturally, this irks my grandfather who is the rightful owner of the title something mighty fierce, so I am here in order to correct upon this egregious miscarriage you've been conducting." One of the former twelve disciples was about to say something but the armored hand of a death knight grabbed him by his head and held it in looking position in front of Koriander. Now he understood: she was the one who had made them. "But first thing is first, one of you have done something rather irksome to my brother and I am here to bring you to him to collect some due punishment." The minions came back from their search of the crowd carrying a bald headed man who resembled a skeleton, Khajit, so they had resurrected him. "I see one of the offenders but where is your partner, the plate hunter?"

"Clementine?" Albedo grabbed Khajit by his head and Koriander cast mind controlling magic on him to force him to respond. "I... don't... know... she... was... killed... with... me... but... she... was... brought... somewhere... Else!"

"I see. But isn't she with you guys?" Koriander asked looking confused.

"No... she... was... from... the... Slane... Theocracy...!"

"I see. Well we still need you to suffer, so go give him to our chief torturer." Koriander stated giving a dismissive shrug.

"Neuronist! Neuronist!" The minions all picked Khajit up and carried him off to take him somewhere he would not enjoy.

"As for the rest of you, this is Gnarl." The brown Goblin stepped forward. "He'll be teaching all of you about the glory of my grandfather, so be sure to take everything in." Saying that, Albedo produced her black wings and took Koriander by her hand before taking off into the air. "I've been meaning to investigate the former capital of the Slane Theocracy for a while now, prepare the dragon, we're going long distance today."

* * *

Kieran received word from Koriander, the undead cult didn't know where to find the resurrected plate hunter, she was originally part of the Slane Theocracy and so could have revived herself from within that place. Even so that place was a little long for Hamsuke who tired herself out just by flying over E-Rantle to get there, so instead they were here.

"Master, is it okay if I take a break now?" Hamsuke asked panting heavily.

They were in the lizard men's training area, where a grove of magic trees had been planted, from those trees huge black monsters with boar skulls for heads and carrying huge battle ax's were being spawned: Skull Boars. In order to increase the power of the Lizard men, they were assigned to continuously slaughter these constantly spawning monsters, but right now Kieran was borrowing their training grounds to train Hamsuke.

"No. Kill enough to earn a Skill point and go talk to the Swordsman to learn a new Martial Art." Kieran stated his tone uncompromising.

"With all do respect." Brain, the swords man in question, stepped forward. "I do not know hand to hand combat skills, perhaps it would be best to ask one of the lizard men instead?"

"Fine do whatever." Kieran stated in an annoyed tone of voice before turning to face the woods.

"Blaze after your done there move everyone of value out then carpet bomb the rest, lets at least make it look like I was there." With that matter resolved Kieran turned to look a Cocytus who was governing over the village. "I've had to put up with a lot of annoying things lately, you wanna go hang out at the slime baths?"

"It. Would. Please. Me. Greatly. Master." Cocytus stated bowing in respect. "Alright lets go, I'll leave her training to you mooks."

* * *

Sebas had just finished at the errands for the night, among his duties was to go to the local adventurer's guild and write down all of the requests there, then he would travel to the magicians guild and pick up scrolls for all of the new magics they developed. Finally he would walk through the market place and collect information on all of the merchants there, and right now he was in the process of walking back to their base of operations. He was cutting through a unfamiliar part of the town, the main point of his job was information gathering after all, and so towards that end he would explore the city in depth in hopes of providing insight for when they finally annexed this miserable place. This district was one he particularly looked forward to watching get demolished, it was a ruined place abandoned by the nobility, those who lived here had essentially given up living with a decent quality of life, or for that matter, living a decent life at all turning to crime for survival and doing onto others that which was done onto them. Walking past one of these establishments Sebas witnessed a bag being tossed out of that establishment like a sack of garbage, and saw a human arm sticking out of it. Dismissing it as simply a corpse Sebas continued on walking by, but was mildly surprised when he felt something grab his leg, looking down he saw that same arm he had initially dismissed as a corpse grabbing his pant leg. Seeing the rest of the body Sebas still felt tempted to dismiss it as a corpse: She was severely emancipated, covered in bruising, the features of her face were sunken in yet severely swollen, perhaps Sebas was just bias because he was use to seeing corpses get up and move thanks to Koriander's antics in necromancy. None the less Sebas knelt down to check, she had a pulse, barely, still more then what could be said for most undead, and held her head in his hands.

"In life there are two rules which are absolute: what can be done, and what can't be. I can and will help someone who wants to live, but I cannot and will never help someone who has lost the will to help themselves. Do you want help?" As Sebas asked this question he leaned his head down and held his ear to the bag of skin and bone's lips.

"Akp."

Not words per say, still she still had the will power to utter them, so that was his bare minimum criteria met. As Sebas was thinking about that he noticed the door open again, now was the time to finish what he had started.

"Hey what are you doing here?" He was a large man, easily twice the size of Sebas, more so from fat than actual muscle tissue though, the scars on his face indicated that he was no stranger to violence, though the fact that he came out of that place said that much. He probably looks intimidating.

"Excuse me." Sebas grabbed the other man by the scruff of his shirt and held him into the air. "But what is this woman to you?"

"She's one of our employees!" The large man stated making a futile effort to remove Sebas's hand from his person.

"So you consider her your comrade and yet you treat her in such a manner?" Sebas asked his voice a barely contained mass of rage. No matter how you look at it, what was at Sebas's feet was a sack of garbage someone was in the middle of disposing. "What were you doing with her?"

"Take her to the temple because she's sick!" Seizing an opening in this discussion, Sebas released his verbal sparring partner dropping him on his inflated ass.

"In that case, I will take her to the temple for you." Saying that, Sebas bent down and picked the sack up and carried it's contents in his arms.

"Wait!" Sebas bore his verbal sparring partner a second glance. "You can't take her!" The larger man was clearly scared, so albeit a slim one there was still a chance that listening to what he had to say was worth while.

"And why is that?" Sebas asked making it clear his suspicions.

"She belongs to us!" The man stated as he smirked knowingly. "If you take her away then you'll be breaking the law!"

"Good Day." Sebas stated turning around. Fortunately for him, Sebas's master was quite insightful, fore seeing that they might make enemies where they were suppose to have allies she had tasked Sebas with memorizing every detail of the Kingdom's law. Thus Sebas was aware that to own someone was the same as slavery, and that slavery had been outlawed some time ago. Therefore legally Sebas was in the right here.

"If you take her away then you'll be bringing down a world of hurt on you!" Sebas had mild reason to pause at his statement.

The majority of power of the Kingdom lied in it's criminal element, if they were to find a threat to Nazarick, they would find it there. However as part of his information gathering efforts, Sebas went out of his way to acquire all the information on the Kingdom's criminal element that he could. From the Adventurer's guild he learned of the group who called themselves six arms who were classified as adamantine ranked criminals, meaning they were thugs on the same level as your average Adamantine Adventurer. For reference, Sebas observed groups of Adamantine adventurer's as they passed through the adventurer's guild on business: Blue Rose was a all female group consisting of a magic caster, two ninja's, and two warriors, one a paladin with a limited ability to revive the dead and the strongest among them being the magic caster. In terms of power, the closest reference Sebas could think of was Naberal his subordinate assigned to Kieran as an adventurer. He could easily exterminate such pests as he would crush a cockroach.

"Hmm. It seems that you had caused a bit of a commotion." Sebas turned to look at the brothel as various people came to investigate what was likely the distressed screams of their colleagues. "Hmm. Can't be helped." Saying that, the atmosphere around Sebas immediately changed. Even though it was already dark out, the area around him was immediately surrounded in pitch blackness, looking in Sebas's vague direction the men saw two bright red stars staring out of that darkness blacker then the night sky, radiating with murderous intent. "Come and Die!"

"HYAAAAAHAAHAHAHAHA!"

Letting out that ear piercing shriek the men inside of the brothel immediately ran away from the demon who had deign to grace them with his presence. Having executed Nightmare Teller Flawlessly, Sebas continued on his way.

* * *

Balloma was in the middle of the lounge of their rented mansion doing various paper work. Right now Kieran's job as an adventurer was their main source of income, luckily his expenses were minimal, Balloma was initially concerned that his preference for sleeping outdoors would have a negative impact, but witnessing his constant dedication to maintain and hone his abilities many had been greatly impressed. That in turn allowed her to take the majority of his income as a adventurer and use it to improve their own standing, Balloma had already allocated a large portion of the funds to building the lizard men village, and she had allocated another portion of those funds to setting up the shop where Koriander's magic items could be sold, therefore increasing their funds further. Now Balloma needed to secure a meeting with a high ranking Noble and begin the process of putting the kingdom under her control, but how.

"I am home mistress." Balloma was so lost in thought that she didn't even see Sebas walk up to her, though for the life of her she could figure out why he was carrying a sack of garbage with him.

"Blades." At once a green turned visible again. "Go get a Blue to look after that mess for Sebas." The green saluted, several Minions crowded around Sebas who kneeled down to allow them to take the sack he had in his arms away to one the numerous servant rooms. "While you lot take care of that, Sebas can give me a proper explanation." Having expected that possibility Sebas sat down in front of his master. "First question, how did she come to be in that state?"

"I found her outside of a establishment in the less pleasant part of town, the people there didn't look like they wanted her so I took her for our own purposes." Sebas stated with a shrug of his shoulders. "I don't know the exact details the Blue will likely be able to divine them during her examination."

"That's fair. It's not like you to partake in something like that. Then why did you bring her back here?" Balloma asked cocking a suspicious brow.

"Haven't you noticed something strange about this mansion?" Sebas stated gesturing his arms wide, Balloma looked side to side before looking at Sebas to continue. "There's no people here, aside from yourself and me. What if you had to entertain guests here?"

"The minions know how to cook and clean and we've got you, so we already have the bare minimum necessary." Balloma countered her eyes cocked suspiciously.

"This mansion does not say 'bare minimum necessary' now does it? One of this size should have a large number of people maintaining it, but all we have is minions that can't be shown off to any guests we have over." Sebas stated directing Balloma's gaze to the oft invisible greens. He made a fair point. To the untrained eye they would look like they were short on hands and yet they could not risk hiring outsiders, so raising someone up from nothing was the better solution.

"So what you're proposing is that we dress that up as a maid and prop her around to lower people's suspicions?" Balloma asked as she looked up to the ceiling to ponder the question for a moment. "I need sleep, I've been working too hard." Saying that Balloma got to her feet and went to leave. "Prepare a bath Sebas, I don't want your pet leaving filth around the mansion."

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 **Review Section** :

rmarcano123: True. Yes I believe I explained that somewhere around... chapter two I think it was. Unicorn Soul Eater is roughly level forty, it's original ability to purify with the golden has been replaced with one that raises nearby dead into undead. Koriander as equipped it with spells to spawn low tier undead in groups such as Death Squire, Skeleton Archer, Skeleton Mage and Grim, wraith like animals a spell that turns water into a impressively toxic liquid that has a regenerative effect on the undead, sweat poison and create rain and now she's going to add barding to give it even more abilities as well as raise it's defensive and offensive potential, a Nether Ghul is a custom made undead combining traits from several undead and the body of a unique monster. Dragon's are creatures that can mate with anyone due to unique universally compatible stem cells, Demiurge tried to take advantage of that by injecting them into dwelf embryo's but the end result had bits of dragon growing out of Dwelf bodies randomly, not very useful, conversely the Dwelf Dhampire have fifteen times human strength, six times human speed, ten times human durability, limitless stamina, dramatically enhanced hearing, smell and sight all assuming that he has recently had his fill of blood not to mention the ability to suck the blood out of people and learn their martial arts in the process and you would know all of this if you had been paying attention to the story.

Wacko12: When the lizard men died? They briefly went into the abyss before Koriander and her subordinates brought them back and now their quality of life has been improved in exchange for serving as a branch of Nazarick's military.


	24. Chapter 24

**Author's Note** : The old man's back, that makes me happy, but on with the show. Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy!

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Chapter 24: A Unusual Mentor Ship

The Blue Minion, Doc, gave his report to Sebas having used a cleaning spell and then a healing spell to cure the girl that he had brought in of all of her physical ailments, the brown cook, Quaver, prepared a bowl of porridge and a stick of bread at Sebas's request for Tsuare to eat. Bringing the trey into the room Sebas sat it down in front of the girl and took the seat next to the door. She didn't look too well, true the minions top notch magic had healed her of every physical ailment, but not wounds of the mind. Indeed, based on the condition she was found in there Sebas could only imagine the mistreatment that she had received in that place.

"It's not drugged, if that's what you're wondering." Sebas stated noting his patient's reluctance to touch her food.

"You asked me for help and I gave it to you. It's your decision on whether or not you wish to recover." Sebas shrugged with indifference as he continued. "That said, should you wish to be rehabilitated, I and others will aid you."

The girl picked up the spoon left for her by the bowl, and took her first bite of food. Light returned to her eyes with a dose of shock for good measure. She devoured what was put in front of her, like she hadn't had food in weeks, which to be fair based on the condition that Sebas found her in was fairly likely.

"Thank... Thank you... very... much." Then tears started to surge forward, suppressed emotions uncoiling in a safe environment. "Why... Didn't... anyone...?" First was sorrow, then the tell tale signs of rage as the girl chucked her empty food bowl at Sebas's head. "Why... Didn't... you!?"

Sebas recalled the basics of Post Traumatic stress, for one thing it was normal for the victim of extreme trauma to simply accept the nature of their abuser as a monster, like a demon, and instead blame the bystander or rescuer for not saving them or not saving them sooner. However Sebas understood the vast difference in power that exists between the two of them and so stood up, walked over to the girl, and wrapped around her in a embrace. The girl recoiled at first, she had been embraced like this before and it was not too pleasant, but this was different, in the same way that Sebas was able to convey his overwhelming murderous intent to her captors he was now conveying a overwhelming feeling of security and reliability.

* * *

A meeting of nine individuals in the crime infested district of the kingdom, their were eight of these individuals, not counting whatever body guard they chose to bring along, in total.

"This meeting of Eight Fingers will now commence." The man sitting at the head of the round table, a individual who looked suspiciously like a high priest, stated raising his hand into the air.

The nine of them discussed various things, the drug plant that was raided by a adventurer group hired by the Kingdom a few days past. The declining slave trade in the kingdom thanks to the efforts of the golden princess and their efforts to pick up slack in the Baharuth empire. Nobles who needed to be assassinated and ones who wish for assassins. The acquisition of goods and the smuggling them around the continent. High price items being targeted for theft and selling. Which nobles were inducted into their banks, and which ones they needed indebted via gambling, and finally the acquisition of new talent for the security division.

"Has anyone been able to contact the new adamantine team yet?" The division leader turned to the black skinned bald man who was the head of the security division: Zero.

"I've put someone to watch him, reports say that he looks bored with adventurer work." The he that Zero was referring to was Kieran Ooal Gown, the Black Armored warrior of the team which had been dubbed the Swords of Darkness. Given what Zero just said about him, Kieran should be an ideal candidate for recruitment. "However, something else about it is bothering me. That guy frequently takes low end monster extermination missions, but upon arriving on scene he quickly dispatches the monsters before leaving. But the amount of time he takes getting to those locations and the amount it takes him to get back don't match up." In other words, Kieran has a tendency of quickly finishing whatever job he is doing, and then disappearing for days on end, and not even Zero's skilled assassins could find him. "Currently, we're trying to find this woman." Zero explained holding out a sketch of a woman in a hood. "The last time Kieran vanished, he did so with her in tow." If Kieran is working for someone, they should try to find out who that someone is.

"The way I see it, things go one of two ways." The group turned their attention to a woman who had a snake tattoo and who looked like a high class prostitute, Hilma the head of the Drug Division. "1. There is a rival trying to muscle in on us, or 2. There is some new player that we can make our subordinates." Many of those present nodded in agreement.

"What do we know about the Slane Theocracy and their new residents?" Once again, attention was on Zero, as it should have been, among the eight of them he was the only one to employ a undead among his ranks.

"Davernoc never had anything to do with Zurannon, according to his contacts though they recently had a coup and all of the top ranked people were wiped out." So first the Slane Theocracy gets wiped out by the undead, then Zurannon gets conquered in a single night.

"Hmm. I recall that there was a legend among the six gods." The head of Eight Fingers stated as he folded his hands together. "Once every one hundred years, the gods would descend upon the planet to bring about great ruin and change." First the Six great gods, then the eight greed kings, the thirteen heroes. "Hmm. We should find the ones responsible for these events as soon as possible."

"On the subject of slightly less apocalyptic matters." A man with blonde hair and lustful predatory eyes, the head of the slave division Cocco Doll, raised his hand to speak. "This is rather embarrassing, but some of my men lost track of a bit of merchandise a little while ago and now we figured out where it went, so I would like to ask Zero to send someone to help."

"I happen to have one of my 'six arms' with me today, but he won't be cheap. Are you sure you can afford him?" Zero asked cocking a suspicious brow.

"Well based on what my men said the other night that bit of merchandise seems to have shacked up with a bit of a trouble maker, so I would like to be safer then sorry." Cocco Doll explained smirking with a shrug of his shoulders.

* * *

The girl said her name was Tsuare Nina, Balloma decided to allow the girl to propose being a maid herself, which she did. Hence Tsuare was put to work, she already had some cooking ability but being assigned under Quaver gradually improved upon those skills, cleaning was a different matter, none of the minions were cleaners, they just had the blues use cleaning spells. That said, considering the fact that they just needed Tsuare to stand around pretending to be a maid she had certainly went above and beyond their initial plans for her. At the moment they were in the middle of looking at their finances, they were in the midst of negotiating with several alchemists to have them come over and work for them, there was also black smiths interested in coming under their employ as well. It was while idly flipping her pen between fingers and waiting for supper that Balloma heard the bell ring indicating guests were at the door, a fact that ran in direct contradiction to the fact that they weren't suppose to have guests over today.

"Get Sebas to get the door, anyone who can't turn invisible needs to go into the kitchen." Giving a Salute, the green ran off to it's assigned tasks.

Though troublesome to get all her paperwork out and organized again, Balloma quickly and neatly organized her work into a satchel next to the couch. Then Sebas appeared in the door way.

"Announcing his honors officer Staffan Heivish and Succulent." Sebas stated gesturing to the two men that entered the door way.

The first was a large rotund man in a officer's uniform, the sight of his overly greasy form made Balloma note never to rely on the guards of this city for anything, period. The other man, Succulent, was skinnier, whatever he claimed to be, he was definitely a veteran of a variable amount of violence if the amount of scarring on his face and the armor he wore were any indicators.

"Greetings Officer Mr. Succulent. You caught me as I was about to have dinner, would you like some refreshments?" Balloma asked cocking a vaguely interested brow.

"No, no. We won't be staying long." Succulent politely replied waving his hand around.

"Very well, what are we having today Sebas?" Balloma replied cocking a brow at her butler.

"Fried potato slices lightly salted, with a tomato paste and vinegar sauce." Sebas replied without hesitation.

"Good, bring some in." At Balloma's command the Butler left for the kitchen. "Now to what has brought the two of you to my humble home?" Balloma picked up her note book and began going through it, to the confusion of the two men who should be her guests. "Don't mind me, I just remembered something."

Shrugging their shoulders, the two men got down to business.

"We are here investigating the kidnapping of a young lady several nights ago." Staffan stated folding his hands together.

Looking at Balloma the fires of desire were ignited in the fat man's eyes, he should patent that as a martial art it could send shivers down the spine of almost any woman. Almost.

"That does sound serious." Balloma's tone didn't match what she was saying, Staffan imagined that she would show more enthusiasm commenting on the weather.

"Mr. Succulent here works as a bouncer at the establishment, and as such is here to identify the missing person in question." Staffan explained gesturing to the man sitting down next to him.

"Cute. But why are you here?" Balloma asked not bothering to look at the men as she flipped through the note book.

"One of the men working at the bar at the time reported that a elderly gentleman, wearing a butler's uniform and carrying a newly bought magic scroll, was the one who took her away."

"I do recall that yes." Balloma stated, tapping her finger in thought as she looked in her note book.

"Mistress." Sebas stated as he walked into the living carrying a trey of food. "As stated, fried potato slices lightly salted with a tomato paste and vinegar dipping sauce." Sebas explained placing the trey down in front of Balloma.

"Sebas did you kidnap that girl from some trashy bar?" Balloma asked in a accusatory tone of voice.

"Unfortunately that may be the case." Sebas stated in a apologetic tone of voice.

"Hmm. Can't be helped." Balloma stated shrugging her shoulders. "I assume that you want her back?" That surprised both men, it wasn't the reaction they were looking for.

"We'll also have to take into custody the individual responsible. Of course if you're willing this... misunderstanding can be cleared with no further casualties." Staffan stated having seemed to recover his momentum.

"What misunderstanding, my employee broke the law and now deserves to be punished, you may take both him and the person he took with him away now." Saying that Balloma stood up to lead the two men away, indicating that this conversation had ended. Balloma led the two to the basement door. "With this, I declare that the issue is resolved." Balloma opened the door, suddenly a sticky white substance shot out from the darkness and grabbed Succulent by his face. Succulent pulled his blade out and started blindly hacking at the webbing only to get his weapon stuck instead. Staffan was stunned but survival instinct kicked in as he ran down the hall trying to get away. "Grab him." More of the white material blocked Staffan's path, looking up at the ceiling he saw eight eyes staring down at him. Then his vision went dark as the white enveloped him. "Alright lets see what we got." Consulting with Kieran's bingo book, Balloma learned that Succulent was considered one of the six strongest criminal enforcers in the kingdom, the adamantine warrior known as the illusionist. "This one is suppose to be strong, see what Demiurge can do with him." Balloma instructed as the Minions pushed the man over and carried him into the basement. "Now as for you."

The book made no mention of Staffan, by the looks of things he was a legitimate member of the city's guard, no matter how corrupt he might be. What would be done with him would depend on what happens next. Balloma had Koriander write magic into her glove, using that she could enter this man's mind and exact any and all information she deemed relevant, and what she saw was a sheer wave of disgust.

Firstly, the establishment Sebas took Tsuare from was a brothel, she knew this because Staffan was the one to leave her in the ruined state that Sebas found her in, for Staffan merely raping women was not enough, first he had to beat them into a unrecognizable pulp, and it was even better when it was a beautiful woman, and the best were the ones like Tsuare who bore a loose resemblance to the princess. The final straw however, was when Balloma saw her own image super imposed over that of the beaten Tsuare, not a true memory, but a product of a delusional imagination. Balloma broke contact with Staffan with a look of disgust.

"Feed this one to the succubi, and make sure that he learns how to respect women." The minions revealed themselves to give a bow to Balloma, and then carried the man off for the teleportation circle to Nazarick.

* * *

After training with the Lizard men, Brain was sent to the capital of the Re-Estize Kingdom, when he was not training Nazarick's forces he was assigned to go out, seek powerful martial artists, and drink their blood acquiring their skills. The first on his hit list was the only warrior to ever beat Brain in combat, Gazef Stronoff the Kingdom's Warrior Captain who specialized in the extensive use of buffing type martial arts to augment his signature multi-hit attack six-fold slash of light. If those abilities were used on someone like Brain whose body had been augmented via a species change and now possessed limitless stamina then the end result would by a monster of great power. Still Brain knew that he wasn't someone on the same level as the monster known as Shalltear Bloodfallen, not yet anyway. For that to happen he would have to continue his training.

"Damnit where are you living?" Simply asking where Gazef lived would be too suspicious, the rumors said that a huge blade should be sticking out of the top of the house obviously seemed like a lie. At this point in time Brain was willing to start a ruckus just to draw him out.

Right now he was hanging out around the various top Alchemy shops in the city, Gazef's job demanded that he consume healing type potions on a regular basis, if he could find the shop that Gazef frequented then he could challenge him to a duel, one drop of blood was all that he needed. While waiting inside of the shop Brain saw someone enter and put money on the counter for a potion. Brain's eyes were drawn to the boy's shoulder, a band that denoted him passage through the gates of the royal palace, royal guard then, likely a fresh recruit based on his age. It was a better lead then what he's had since coming there, so when he left Brain followed, if this boy did lead him to the royal palace he would have to find another way of gaining passage, but Gazef was the kind of person who would take to training the royal guards in his down time, follow this kid long enough and he would lead him to him. Unfortunately though both individuals found themselves side tracked by a large crowd, and lo and behold Brain saw the familiar white haired form of a old man who served his new masters Sebas Tian. Sebas seemed to understand the source of the commotion and weaved through the crowd with skill that left Brain doubting that he was a pure warrior. Jumping onto a low hanging roof Brain surveyed the crowd, the object of everyone's attention was a group of drunks who had taken to beating on a young lad. The old man took one look at the situation, shook his head in dismay, before he hit the lead drunkard so hard that he was sent flying into the forms of his friends. Bending down Sebas held his hand over the fore head of the boy on the ground and after a brief flash of light appeared to be mostly healed. The young Royal Guard whom Brain had been following snarled threateningly at two guards who watched the incident unfold and did nothing before chasing after Sebas. Sebas went into a alley way and the young man who had been following him went in after him, Brain hid himself behind a corner leading into the alley and watched the two of them interact.

"It is quite dangerous to follow strangers into alley ways you know." Sebas commented as he acknowledged the young man's presence.

"My apologies!" The young man slammed his feet together and bowed to Sebas. "I couldn't help but notice your technique just now!"

"No need to shout." Sebas stated turning to face the individual who he had been speaking with. "What's your name young man?"

"I am...!" He realized he was still shouting so he took the liberty of clearing his throat with a ahem. "I am Climb. Pleasure to meet you." Again the young man known as Climb bowed his head.

"Well, if you don't intend to ambush me then why are you here?"

"I think of myself as a student of the Martial Arts, seeing what you just did in that crowd I was hoping to be able to learn something from you." Climb explained having relaxed a tiny little bit.

"I see. Might I see your sword?" To Sebas's request, Climb handed over his sword and Sebas took it out of the sheath to examine it. Well maintained, fine craftsmanship, obviously someone who cares a great deal about his weapon, but there was a tell tale chip in it indicating how well used it was. "Is this your primary weapon?"

"No, it's my back up." Climb stated without hesitation. So a back up weapon for the sole purpose of training then, one that had been used to the point it was on the verge of breaking.

"I've made my decision, I will train you." Sebas gave Climb back his weapon unsheathed. "However, time is tight for me, therefore the only thing that I can do is give you training that will produce instant results." Climb seemed happy with this, but Sebas took the liberty of properly explaining what he meant. "However I must warn you that what I'm about to do to you will be brutal, you could very well die from this. So I must ask that you seriously consider what is about to happen to you."

Climb closed his eyes for a few moments.

"As a man, I must become as strong as I can in order to protect someone that I care about." Climb stated his voice as solid as steel.

"A good Answer, then raise your weapon." At Sebas's command Climb aimed his weapon at the butler. Suddenly Climb was hit with something like a gale of freezing cold air, all light in the area had been destroyed in a instant, and yet Climb could see the man in front of him clear as day as he assumed a boxer's stance, radiating not light but rather a aura of pure unquenchable blood lust, Climb's body was covered in goose bumps and he was shaking in his boots. "Oh. This is just the prelude, is that all that a 'man' amounts to?" With at Climb clenched his butt cheeks and tightened the grip on his sword, ready to slam it down on his enemy, Sebas's prodding had succeeded. "Then here I come, defend yourself!" Sebas slammed his fist forward towards Climb's head, he however moved his head out of the way at the last second, yet a huge amount of air rushed past his head as the world returned to normal, a kill strike of ludicrous overkill. That said, said gust wind combined with Climb's shakey posture knocked him to the ground and he found himself gasping for breath. "Well done young man, it would seem that you have over come the fear of death." The heavily breathing Climb looked up at Sebas as if asking what had just happened. "While to be able to act while under the impending threat of death is a admirable trait, becoming numb to fear is not. Through fear your body is able to reach the limits of human strength and for a brief period of time achieve super human status." Sebas helped Climb to his feet. Brain, having just been put through a similar experience, cursed his own weakness. A child had managed to out do him, and in front of one of his superiors no less. "Now, while I would like to continue as I mentioned already I'm rather tight for time at the moment." As Sebas said that, five assassins appeared from the shadows, armed with blades dripping with poisonous liquid. "See?"

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 **Review Section** :

rmarcano123: Good to know. They will suffer horrifically and then they will be put to work. No, In the anime Baharuth was bullied into an alliance to conquer Re-Estize, we're going for the opposite here.

Chronos0305: My original plans for him have changed a bit, Ainz is the Overlord from the first game, but lets just say that time in the land of the dead has had an... effect on him.

PervySageChuck: Good to see you back old man. But no, not for now anyway.


	25. Chapter 25

**Author's Note** : Not much to say right now, Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy!

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Chapter 25: A Meeting of Three Warriors

Climb's morning always starts the same, he would wake up in the same bed, clean his teeth at the same sink, put on the same armor, and go out and swing the same sword hundreds of times. And each day he still could not believe that it was happening, that he had not died in that gutter, underneath the little crude shelter he had to fight three other people just for the right to, that one day a young lady guarded by five men had found him and whimsically decided to pull him out of the gutter. Since then Climb has endlessly dedicated himself to the constant honing of his abilities in order to become capable of becoming a worthy body guard for her, Princess Renner Theiere. While swinging the sword over and over again Climb recited in his head the reason why he dedicated himself, Renner who always thought about the kingdom and the people first, who abolished that horrific practice of slavery, who made sure the ones who risked their lives to chase away the monsters could live comfortably, who ceaselessly spent every day devising new ways of making the kingdom simply better! How can Climb, who has dedicated himself to the protection of such a person, do any less dedication.

"Hard at work in the morning I see." Climb turned around to see Gazef leaning into the doorway of the training room.

"Warrior Captain!" Climb stated bowing his head to Gazef.

"Training again till you spurt blood again I see?" Gazef noted seeing how Climb's hands were trembling with the sword in his hand. "Here take this." Gazef passed Climb a potion. "I got it from a new alchemy store that opened up in the capital."

"What is it? Health potion?" Climb asked examining the green liquid inside of the bottle.

"Stamina actually, can give yah a instant boost in energy right after drinking it." Gazef stated shrugging his shoulders.

"Stamina potion? I've never heard of that before." Climb stated as he pulled the cork off of the potion bottle. "So you're using me as a test subject?"

"I've met some other customers there too, a few adventurers, those potions have pulled them out of some tight situations a couple of times already." Gazef stated shrugging his shoulders. "One of the real benefits is that it allows you to train or work for longer periods of time. Naturally I thought of you."

"Ah I see." Saying that Climb downed the potion, he barely felt the tingle of magic in his body but he felt his energy restored, yet his arms were still sore from the physical exertion of his training. "What is this stuff? It doesn't feel like magic." Climb commented looking down at the empty bottle.

"The gent working at he counter called it a 'extract' caffeine I think is what he said it was." Gazef commented as he looked up at the ceiling. "Speaking of you should call it quits for today." Climb was about to protest but Gazef cut him off. "Your job isn't to stay in here all day and swing that sword around it's to protect the princess."

"...Yes Sir." Climb gave a bow to Gazef unable to counter his point. "Is there any advice that you'd like to give me?"

"Never forget how weak we all are." Gazef stated, for some time now something had been troubling him greatly.

"Does this have something to do with what happened at that village?" Climb asked looking concerned.

"When I got there I was attacked by a group of people from the Slane Theocracy that were much stronger then I am. They were in turn defeated by two people who had appeared out of no where, and when I get back to the capital the first thing I learn is that the Slane Theocracy has in turn been wiped out in one day." Gazef stated the implications of his words obvious and severe. "Powerful beings have chosen to descend upon us Climb, and one of these days I'm afraid that we're going to have to fight one." Gazef stated looking up in the air. Even though Gazef spoke with such a somber tone, the fact was that there was a fire in his eyes that were nothing less than pure challenge. "In any case, we both have jobs to do, I'll let you get to yours."

* * *

Climb navigated his way through the palace of the Kingdom of Re-Estize and arrived, at the room of his mistress Renner, along the way he encountered both his fellow warriors and the maids of the castle. Soldiers were those selected among the common folk for any prowess as a warrior by the nobility, in order to bolster their forces they took these individuals and put them through hard training, as their superior these individuals respected both Climb's authority and martial skill. The Knights were those warriors who came from noble families, the ones who were a product of specialty breeding and as such had a tendency to possess strong talents, many of them knew that they were stronger then Climb, but while they resented him for the position he was handed they also respected his hard work he made to get there and keep the position. Finally there were the maids, often the second or third daughters of nobility, possessing neither the humble beginnings of the soldiers nor the recognition of hard work of the knights these were the ones that thought of Climb with nothing but pure disgust. While feeling the daggers of their glares in the back of his head Climb was welcomed into the Princess's room.

"Right, I forgot that you were having guests over today." Climb stated looking at the woman sitting across from Renner. "I see Miss Lakyus, but who is that chair for?" Lakyus was a noble woman, and although today she was dressed for the part in reality she was the leader of the Adamantine adventurer group Blue Rose.

"I brought along Tina, but you know how the stealthy types are." Lakyus stated directing Climb's attention to the darkened corner of the room where a short woman dressed in red/camo Ninja's fatigues was located.

"Right. What are we talking about today?" Climb asked as he ignored his mistress's motion to sit down next to her.

"Eight Fingers again."

The extermination of that group of thugs was chief among Renner's agenda for the past several months, and towards that end she had hired Blue Rose to act as the instruments of that extermination, though the adventurer's guild disapproved of their actions the rank of Adamantine gave Blue Rose a considerable amount of clout and leeway within it's ranks. Aside from her friendship with Lakyus there was another reason that she had chosen to use Adventurer's, that being trust. The Nobles of Re-Estize were, to put it bluntly, corrupt, most of them were in bed with Eight Fingers and if they went to them for help the rats would simply flee from one sinking ship to another within the country. Likewise they couldn't rely on mercenaries either, organizations like those were run by Eight Fingers, that only left the third option that being the adventurer's guild that in spite of being full of reliable people were under the influence of neither the kingdom or the criminals.

"We burned down another of their farms last night." Lakyus explained as she got something out of her pocket.

"The ones that produce 'Black Dust' right?" Climb had a personal grievance against that stuff.

With the kingdom in the state that it was in people were desperate for a salve to their desperation. Insert the Black Dust, made from a poisonous plant the Black Dust induces a bliss like state while it ruins the body and the mind, were it not for Renner Climb would likely be one of those poor unfortunates.

"Correct, and we found this in their warehouse." Lakyus explained as she dropped a folded note on the table. "We believe it's a encrypted message but thus far we've been unable to translate it."

"Allow me." At once Renner examined the note. "Climb, my stationery." To Renner's orders Climb went over to the nearby desk and brought back a fountain pen and length of paper. "E is the most common letter in the alphabet... letters tend to start with the male noun..." Renner muttered like that to herself for a few moments before presenting the end result with a 'aha!' "I believe it's a list of locations within the capital, likely various different Eight Finger's bases."

"As expected by the Kingdom's 'Golden Princess!'" Lakyus would like to say that she was surprised by the outcome, but then she'd be lying. The Adventurer has known Renner for a long time and has always known how intelligent she was. "If you were better at planning things through you'd be running this country by now."

"It's not my fault that people don't wanna listen to me." Renner stated as she turned her nose upwards in displeasure.

"Either way we're going to have to move out soon if we wanna hit all of these before the drug trafficking department moves to another city." Lakyus stated as she scratched her chin in thought.

"I don't think these locations belong to the drug department." Renner stated folding her hands together as she looked upon the adventurer's with scrutiny. "No matter how you think about it, this many buildings in one city for one operation is rather excessive. Rather I think that it is a list of buildings belonging to everyone but the drug department."

"Are you sure?" Lakyus asked taken aback with shock, and why wouldn't she be? After all why would one department have a list of buildings from another department lying around.

"For starters there's the number, seven locations instead of eight. Like there's one that being left out on purpose. For another there's the message." Renner stated holding up the sheet of paper. "This isn't a hard cipher to de-crypt, especially if they've already deduced that I'm involved, because at the risk of tooting my own horn."

"But you're pretty darn smart. Alright so if they did want us to deduce the document why encrypt it?" Lakyus stated scratching the side of her head.

"For the same reason they left it behind of course: to buy time." Renner stated confident in her assertions. "Right now we're cracking down the hardest on the Drug trade, if we suddenly focus our attention on the other departments then that will allow them to pack up their operations and head elsewhere. Of course all of this is based on the assumption that rather then a singular organized crime syndicate we are instead dealing with several groups with mutually exclusive interests. But based on the information we have here that makes the most sense."

"If that's the case we'll need to rethink our approach." Each department had their own respective ways of fighting back, the drug department preferred the use of ability boosting potions and poisoned weapons, the slave department would often hide behind their victims like shields, the Smuggling department made use of various exotic weaponry and the list continued on like that for all of the departments. But the ones that were of particular concern to them was the security department, the one whose employees consisted exclusively of violent mercenary thugs, it is quite likely that they would be thoroughly outmatched by that group even if they did send in all of Blue Rose. "That is a problem. It would be nice to get them all at once, but with our limited numbers we'd only end up shutting them down one at a time." Lakyus commented crossing her arms in dissatisfaction.

"You leave the issue of numbers to me." Renner stated smirking in a wide and self assured manner.

"Right. Climb, could you do us a favor and go deliver this message to Gagaran and the others?" Lakyus asked holding out a sheet of paper for Climb. "If we're doing this fast and dirty then I need those three to be on full alert."

"Yes Miss Lakyus!" Climb stated as he bowed to the Adventurer.

* * *

While Climb wore his Mythril armor when he acted as a agent of Renner, for more casual instances it was better to go out in semi casual wear, there by reducing the likelihood he'd be recognized, thereby reducing the likelihood that he'd embarrass his mistress. First order of business was delivering Lakyus's message to the adventurer's guild. Two out of three of the people he was looking for could be spotted a mile away, Gagaran was built like a ogre with her huge muscular frame, conversely Evil Eye was quite small, but she wore a eye catching red cloak and had a white mask on that should logically make it impossible for her to eat or drink. The third Member, Tia, like her sister Tina, was probably off hiding some where.

"Yo cherry boy, what's up?" Gagaran asked waving Climb over.

"Lakyus wanted me to give you this note." Climb handed Gagaran the note whom quickly skimmed the contents.

"So we're to get ready to move immediately eh?" Gagaran stated looking down at the note. "Sounds like your little missy and my little missy are talking about something pretty serious."

"If she has no objections about dragging adventurer's into her schemes then she should try hiring on a few more." Evil Eye noted chin resting on folded hands.

"What you thinking Orichalcum ranked?" Gagaran suggested leaning back in her chair.

"The guild doesn't give Orichalcum rank the same leeway as they do us. I was thinking of that new Adamantine ranked group that had appeared a little while ago." Evil Eye corrected giving the impression of a eye brow cocking just to make her point.

"Darkness right?" Climb asked looking mildly excited.

"Never met the guy in person before, but if he can do what they say he can do then he's definitely the kind of guy we want against Eight Fingers." Gagaran stated crossing her arms together as she went deep in thought. "A lot of it is pretty mundane like most adventurers, but the highlights include defeating a Gigant Basilisk by himself and exterminating a army of the undead including two skeletal dragons."

"Is that impressive?" Climb asked tilting his head off to the side in confusion. "Even I couldn't take on all of that by myself, the undead horde would tire me out, and the basilisk's range attacks would stop me dead before I could get in close to finish it off. That said from what I heard his strategies tend to amount to 'crush the enemy with overwhelming power.'"

"Isn't that your strategy meat head?" Evil Eye asked before promptly receiving a blow to her head that left a huge welt from Gagaran punching her in the head. "Right, Well I have other things I want to do today as well. So good day to you all." Climb gave his obligatory bow before making a hasty escape.

Aside from the message he delivered Climb also wanted to go pick up more of those stamina potions that Gazef had given him.

* * *

Sebas turned to face the majority of the individuals pointing poisoned daggers at him threateningly, Climb on the other hand turned to face the two who had cut off their escape from the alley way, and was soon greeted by the sight of two fountain's of blood.

"My apologies to the two of you, but that gentleman works for one of my employers and as such I simply can't let you kill him." Brain stated as he licked the blood off of his blade. "Bah. Useless." Brain at least hoped that those two would know some good martial arts but based on their blood that wasn't the case.

Climb kept his attention and sword on the new comer, thus he did not even notice the ridiculous ease by which Sebas grabbed all three of the poisoned throwing daggers his opponents hurled at them and then planted them into one of the men's vital areas. Sebas landed a punch to the face of the second assassin slamming him into the back wall of the alley way. The third and final assassin took one look at the state of his colleagues before he tried to run off, before that is Sebas grabbed him and picked him up by his scruff and held him face to face.

"Mr. Unglas good to see you are well." Sebas stated heedless of the assassin struggling to get out of his grasp.

"I know of you, but you know me?" Brain asked prompting Climb to look between the two of them confused.

"As a servant of your master I was one of several individuals who took turns over seeing your recovery." Sebas clarified as he plucked the assassin of his means of bringing harm upon others or himself.

"I am honored." Brain stated rather genuinely.

"Um... I'm sorry but do you know where these guys came from Mr. Sebas?" Climb asked looking between the two men confused.

"Let us find out." Sebas wagged his fingers over the face of the assassin and suddenly they started to glow orange with foreign power.

* * *

 **Author's Note** :

rmarcano: That they did. Seemed like something they would want to talk about. Good to know. That she does. Staffan has a long standing appointment with Kyhoukou. Adamantine ranked warrior is still a adamantine ranked warrior. Nothing at the moment. Jack The Ripper.

PervySageChuck: Tell yah what, If I ever need a underwear salesman, his name will be Chuck.


	26. Chapter 26

**Author's Note** : Not much to say right now, read, review, favorite and enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 26: The Hideout Raid

Under the influence of Sebas's interrogation technique, the last of the assassins revealed the location of the building that served as their base of operation, perhaps to Sebas's lack of surprise he found himself outside of the same building that he found Tsuare outside of. Sebas could only shake his head in self pity, he left quite a mess behind when he acted with out thinking and now it was his responsibility to clean it up.

"Can't be helped." Sebas stated shrugging his shoulders.

"Is something the matter Sebas?" Climb asked looking at Sebas confused.

"I recently met a new associate outside of this place." Sebas had a quick look around before he eventually landed his eyes on a empty patch of ground in front of the door. "She was... right there I think? She had just been thrown out that very door inside of a sack of garbage." Both Climb's and Brain's faces simultaneously contorted in overwhelmed disgust. "Good so we're on the same page. I'm going to go in through the front, the two of you should try to circle around the back and cut off their escape."

"If I may, there's a good chance that these thugs have information on any more establishments like this, or the various other dens of criminals throughout the kingdom. If there's any high ranking individuals inside of that place then we should capture them." Climb stated speaking in calming tones.

"No need for any such warnings, I'm not a monster after all." Sebas stated letting off a warm smile.

" _Liar!_ " Brain mentally screamed, he knew who this man worked for and whom he worked with. Monsters is the only word he could use to describe the lot of them.

"So to clarify for all, I will go in through the front, the two of you through the back, we will go for minimal casualties while incapacitating and capturing as much of the enemy as we can." Climb smirked and nodded at Sebas's words. "Excellent, I will give you gentlemen a five minuet head start, that should be enough time to make your rounds around the perimeter and locate any escape holes."

Nodding his head, Climb subsequently led the charge as he and Brain ran around to secure the perimeter. Once a sufficient amount of time had passed that Sebas was confident they had completed their objectives he got to work.

"Well, I'm not exactly a thief but warrior's have their own way of doing things too." Saying that, Sebas put his hand on the door, the sound of screeching metal echoed through out the compound as Sebas ripped a solid steel door off of it's hinges and threw it aside in the alley way. Several men swarmed to the noisy intrusion and Sebas in turn swung his arm through most of their heads, bare one survivor. "Excuse me, I understand that there's a passage that leads deeper into this facility, would you mind showing it to me?"

"S-Sure!" Stiffly, the lone survivor moved to the back of the room, opened a trap door, and then jumped down below.

Well it can't be helped, Sebas did say that he would hold back his carnage. Thus Sebas took one of the pulped bodies he had just made and dropped it into the hole as he jumped down, a little something in case someone thought to go out through the side door. Honestly he hadn't planned on this turning into a massacre, but he was just so angry with himself about what was happening that he just lost his self restraint.

* * *

Climb removed one of three bells from his pouch and rung it in front of the door, causing it to unlock under the glow of purple magic.

"Nice trick." Brain Commented looking at the magic bell in question.

"Got it from some adventurer friends of mine." Climb stated as he put the bell away with the others. "Unfortunately each one has a half an hour gap in between when I can use them, and a three per day limit on top of that." Saying that Climb entered through the newly opened door. It was a storage room of some kind, using his sword as a crowbar Climb forced one of the crates open and revealed a box full of maid uniforms. "Maid uniforms? Are they planning to infiltrate the palace?" Climb asked examining one of the uniforms in question.

"There are several explanations. Firstly these uniforms would likely make for a convenient means to hide something inside of them." That made sense to Climb. "Second, as you say, they provide a convenient means of breaking into the palace, the reasons to do that though, when the palace is already so wildly corrupt that it could be thought of as a eight finger's base, is to eliminate one or more members of the royal family, as the guard to the princess you should be made especially aware of the dangers this information has." Climb nodded his head solemnly. "The third is perhaps the least dangerous scenario, in that people are known for possessing a odd and perverse fascination with maids." Brain finished explain seeing the confused look on Climb's face. "The idea is to dress people up in them and plow them."

"I see." Climb stated recoiling in disgust. "Do you think that's what Sebas's friend was brought here for?"

"Well... if product has been damaged then it's only natural to try and dispose of it." Brain stated crossing his arms as he thought, though to be frank it made him sick to do so in this way. "It's best not to think about it too hard, I will go scout ahead."

"Wait." Climb pulled out one of his bells and rung it, a nearby section of floor boards lit purple for a moment before dying back down. "There, those boards are part of a trap door." Climb took out the last of the three bells and shook, causing a sound to echo out like a spring mechanism coming undone. Opening the door a fully loaded cross bow was revealed dripping with foul purple liquid.

"Very Nice bells." Neither Climb or Brain had the skills of a thief, normally in the capacity of a body guard this wasn't a problem, after all why would they, valuable high level assets devoted to the protection of high level VIP's, be charging headlong into the stronghold of the enemy first? For this reason, Climb was gifted these bells by Gagaran, the impressive combination of undoing any lock, revealing any door and dismantling any trap was a combination that put Climb on the same level as any thief. "Mind if I borrow those? I don't have any thief skills." Brain asked eyeing Climb's pouch.

"Hmm. On the subject of which, we should consider splitting up, there might be more then one passage way here, and I should check these crates for any more contraband."

The two men nodded their heads, the better combatant should go ahead, while Climb stays behind to cut off any stragglers that might escape from Brain. Taking the Bells and going down the trap door Brain also noted how well this worked out for him, now when he used super human abilities to chop the enemy into pieces he wouldn't get any suspicious glares for it from Climb. Now that he had a in with Gazef he'd prefer not to lose it by scaring the boy off.

Climb meanwhile continued to use his sword to pry open different crates, he found potions of some kind, based on the description he heard he figured this was more of the black dust. While he was thinking about the contents of the bottle Climb saw one of the crates swing open and inside was a effeminate man standing in shock. Climb's Bell of detect secret doors was designed only to pick up on hidden doors, large crates like these did usually have doors, it was easier then to pry them off or trying to break them down and have to rebuild or reattach them. It was for this same reason that a door could be hidden in plain sight simply by digging a tunnel inside a large crate. It occurred to Climb that what was important was not the secret passage way into the base or how his enemy had concealed it but rather the fact that he was using it to head for the hills.

"Hey you wait!"

Cocodoll had to seriously reconsider how much money he was paying Zero right now, his so called top man disappears while on a simple errand to retrieve something to which had gone missing. Now he was missing as his base was in the midst of being raided by the kingdom, Cocodoll had no other choice but to flee even as the Princess's little boy toy gave chase to him. But he could still turn this around, if he could run back to the Six arms base with the little brat chasing after him then they would ambush and capture him. Then all the things that he would do to him, the boy was quite pretty in spite of his brutish job, so Cocodoll would have some fun with him first. Then after days to weeks of abuse by his hands and others when he was begging for death Cocodoll would chop his head off and send it to that woman he hated more than any other. Ever since that stupid princess started spreading her ideas around life for Cocodoll had become a living hell, acquiring merchandise for sale and selling was nearly impossible in the Re-Estize ever since the outlaw of slavery there. This was nothing short of a golden once in a life time chance to wreak bloody revenge of the highest order.

"GAK!" Cocodoll suddenly found himself struggling to breath, the feeling of gravity left him as his feet rose from the ground.

"Mr. Unglas!?" Climb was out of breath when he finally caught up to Cocodoll, however holding the Eight Finger's executive up by his throat was none other than Brain Unglas. "How did you get here!?"

"There was another tunnel further ahead, speaking of this place seems to lead to another of their bases, we probably shouldn't push our luck considering his desperation to get there it's probably loaded with two bit thugs." Climb nodded his head as Brain used the but of his sword to render Cocodoll unconscious.

When Climb and Brain returned to the underground base they were greeted by the sight of men rolling on the ground with broken legs and women, anorexic and sickly, wrapped in blankets off in a corner.

"All of the women are Alright!" Climb noted happily as he went to the side of the various victims to check on them. "And the employee's and clients have all been incapacitated." Brain noted poking the men with his blade, before noticing Sebas who was standing off to the side innocently. "I assume that you were responsible for this?"

"I think I might have stepped on them." Sebas stated with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Really?" Brain took a second look at the men whose leg bones had been broken in multiple places. "How many times?"

"I've lost track." Sebas stated dismissively. "If you require help relocating these individuals to somewhere they will be safe my mistress will likely be of assistance."

"What? We couldn't possibly impose on you any more then what we already have!" Climb stated taking aback in shock.

"My mistress has been wanting a meeting with the members of the royal family for some time now. This seems like a excellent ice breaker." The three men left the brothel, Climb giving them the name of a bar that they could meet at later, along with Renner for Sebas's mistress and Gazef for Brain to meet.

* * *

Even though Climb had promised a meeting with Renner, the fact was he had no was of knowing her reaction to the day's events, Renner's intellect far exceeded his own, and in acting in this way he could have ruined her pre existing plans for that group. Hence Climb now found himself bowing in the deepest reverence for his sins committed to his master.

"Sit up Climb talking to you when you are down on the ground like that is troublesome after all." To Renner's voice that radiated with compassion Climb moved from the ground to a nearby chair. "Concerning the matter of the hide out raid, you didn't do anything wrong." Renner paused as she thought about the situation. "Because of you we have a list of nobles who we can prove are in bed with Eight Fingers, so if they want to avoid being called traitors then they'll provide us with help to suppress them." The nobles of Re-Estize were cruel to an extreme, if they smelled the smallest hint of blood in the water then it would turn into a violent feeding frenzy that would not end until the streets of their domains ran red with their former master's fluids. "Also, now that we have proof that Eight Fingers are operating within the kingdom's boarders we can move up our time table. After all Eight Fingers already knew that we are after them, so it would only make sense for them to start packing up shop and fleeing." Once again, Climb found himself humbled by his mistress's insight. "As this is the case, we should start rounding up some men to begin the hide out raids."

"There is someone who's been hoping to get a meeting with you, and I believe that they will have the resources to provide us with great aid." Climb stated his voice as firm as steel.

"But are they trust worthy?" Renner asked her voice the lightest hint of questioning.

"Absolutely!" Climb stated with equal firmness.

"In that case I will have to ask you to arrange a meeting somewhere out of the way." Climb nodded his head enthusiastically.

"One of the men in question is Brain Unglas, a former associate of Gazef Strongoff, he is looking forward to having the opportunity to fight him again."

"All the better. If we have the runner up from the warrior captain tournament on our side then it will be like having two Gazef Stronoff's." Renner warmly stated before she took a look at the city streets as magic lights started to dim. "Speaking of, we both have a long day ahead of us Climb, it would be best to face it on a full night's rest." Saying that, Climb nodded his head to his mistress and left for his own quarters. "Now which maid is on call today." Alone with her thoughts, Renner thought about which maid and to whom loyalties she owed was attending to her that night as she made her way to her vanity. "Oh that's right her." Renner put her hands on her face as she used her hands to make a smile. No, Renner was not secretly a shape shifter, nor had she been replaced with one. Yet, the Golden Princess still needed aid and practice to create a glowing smile that fills those who look at it with a sense of security and warmth. "There!" Her preparations completed Renner began her work for the night. "You can come in now!" Renner shouted to the woman in the next room over, a Maid from one of the many nobles under the royal faction.

"Hello Princess. How was your day?" The Maid's acting skills were superb, Renner almost believed that the maid was filled with genuine awe and respect for her, but the condescending undertone was unmistakable.

"Oh it was fantastic!" Renner instantly switched from cunning strategist to doe eyed little girl in love. "Climb-kun stomped into a hide out and beat up a bunch of bad guys and rescued...!" Like that, Renner loosed a specially prepared version of the report Climb had given her, one part truth, to two parts fan girl, to three parts carefully constructed lies. And at the same time, one thought repeated inside of the princess's mind. " _I'll kill her._ " A murderous intent was building up inside of the small body of the princess. " _I'll Kill her._ " A blood thirsty irrational rage that was not suited to either the form of a princess of a kingdom, or that of the genius mind within that form. " _I'll kill anyone who insults my Climb!_ "

* * *

 **Review Section** :

rmarcano321: Pretty much. Not very many. Two series named Overlord, enough said. Zanac seems like the most ideal candidate, smart enough to be predictable, dumb enough to be manipulated.

PervySageChuck: I'm pretty sure that was just blood, the guys that Sebas attacked in the base on the other hand definitely didn't visit your fine establishment.


	27. Chapter 27

**Author's Note:** Not much to say right now, Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy.

* * *

Chapter 27: A Meeting of Two Rulers

Someone was going to pay for this. Zero didn't know who, yet, but they were gonna pay. This was nothing less than a insult of the highest order, not even one night after one of his top men were put on guard duty at this building someone broke in. And not only did they break in, but they apprehended both Cocodoll, their employer for this occasion, and Succulent, the soon to be demoted crony in question, and confiscated all of the merchandise as well. This was simply unacceptable, someone was going to pay for this, and it was probably going to be Succulent.

"Break Succulent out of prison." The bald headed leader of Six Arms stated without hesitation.

"Are you sure we want to?" She was dressed skimpily, her middrift and most of her body was exposed, and what fabric did cover her body was near see through. Yet this delicate appearance was off set by the floating scimitar's behind her. "Succulent was always useless."

"The point is not his usefulness." In direct contrast to the delicate looking woman, a individual who looked less like a man and more of a rotting corpse wearing an expensive looking robe and carrying a magic orb around with him. "He failed, if someone else exacts vengeance upon him other than us then it will reflect poorly upon Six Arms."

"Yet we do not know where Succulent is." A knight in thick looking plate armor stated. "According to our plant in the guards he wasn't among those captured at the brothel, something happened to him first."

"We do know where to start looking for him though." Seemingly taking the middle position in terms of armor the last of the five individuals was a fancily dressed man with solid plate armor underneath his clothing. "If he disappeared doing Cocodoll's bidding then that means that Cocodoll knows who took him."

"Agreed. So we start by breaking Cocodoll out." Zero stated as he stomped down on the crumpled door that use to seal the entrance into the brothel.

"What do you think did that boss?" The knight asked looking down at the crumpled metal on the ground.

"I don't know, the likely hood of a ogre being able to sneak through the city and no one know about it is low, another monk of enough power to do that and I don't know them, even less so." Zero explained as he took a moment to enter deep thought. "Not charging Cocodoll for the last job should be enough of a apology for getting him captured. As added incentive he will want whoever did this just as much as we do." With their first course of action set, the remaining five members of Six Arms left for a fateful meeting.

* * *

Tsuare was very confused, the brown minions had made a circle out of random things that Balloma had brought over with intent to sell and were now do everything they could do to cause one another pain in that area, wrestling each other, biting, punching, kicking, mauling each other. Minions would cycle out as beaten bloodied pulps and brought before blues who would restore them to mint condition, and then watch as the next minions got into the ring while drinking themselves stupid. Not a hard thing to do when you consider that most minions aren't very intelligent to begin with, but watching how little alcohol they drunk before they couldn't stand and how long it took them to get sober when they stopped drinking Tsuare also assumed that their alcohol tolerance was even lower then her former masters. Deciding to leave before this got even uglier then what it already was Tsuare began making her way up stairs.

"So you have the meeting booked for tomorrow?" Sebas asked as he pored Balloma a goblet of wine.

"Thanks to your little friend we have meeting with the third Princess Renner." Balloma explained as she dined on chips and tomato sauce. "Depending on what is discussed we will have to pack up our supplies here and head back to Nazarick."

"Should I have the Minions take down the security system?" Sebas asked cocking a interested brow.

"No. If we do have leave then we won't be worrying about being subtlety, just make sure we get everything that can be used against us." Balloma instructed licking the sauce off of her finger tips.

"Understood. What about Tsuare?" Sebas asked looking concerned.

"Can she survive on her own?" Balloma asked her tone implying the answer was obvious.

"No. I doubt it." Sebas replied his tone anticipating a scolding.

"Then grab her too." Balloma snapped with a roll of her eyes.

"Ah madam..." The two looked over to Tsuare who had been standing unnoticed in the doorway. "Um... the minions are acting... violently."

"Yes, they are engaging in combat training." Balloma stated as if what Tsuare had just said was not remotely interesting. "As long as we have 'the farm' we can continuously revive the minions, so they can continuously feed off of each other's life force and grow stronger that way."

The Dwelfs were a failure, but a educational one. Power lied in specialization, 'Builds' a foundation by which to create a master craft piece of art. The first Overlord, the creator of the Minions, understood this, Browns were front line warriors, Reds distance fire ball throwers, Greens were overly stealthy assassins and Blues were mage healers. On his foundation, they had room for improvement, the four individual types of minions were being further divided into unique sub classes. Browns were being trained as Monks, Berserkers and wolf mounted Cursed Knights. Greens were being trained as Ninja's, Spies and Spider Mounted Rangers. Reds were being trained as Snipers, Bombadiers and Salamander mounted Dragoons. Finally Blues were being trained as Necromancers, Druids, and Paramedics on the newly developed magic slugs with fly and floating board spells equipped.

"'The Farm?'" Tsuare's face had scrunched in confusion.

"You might be seeing it soon, it's where I conduct most of my business." Balloma stated dismissively.

"No I was just wondering if that's where the Minions got the alcohol from." Tsuare commented recoiling a bit when she saw the nasty look that crossed Balloma's face. "You didn't know..." Tsuare just realized that she got the Minions into trouble.

"Sebas." Balloma stated prompting Sebas to leave without word.

Suddenly, the entire house shook several times over and was accompanied by several loud crashes coming from the basement.

"Chip?"

* * *

In the courtyard outside of the castle, a group of soldiers had gathered and were crowding around a sparring match that was forming. In one corner was the Warrior Captain Gazef Stronoff and in the other the runner up for the Warrior Captain tournament: Brain Unglass.

"How do you want to do this?" Gazef asked as he examined his blade for any chips or imperfections.

"We'll use the blood rule." Brain stated as he sharpened his blade with a whet stone.

"'Blood Rule?'" Gazef asked cocking a suspicious brow at his rival.

"First to draw the opponent's blood wins: it simulates battlefield conditions where the enemy can poison their blades, one scratch can be fatal." Brain explained as he put his blade away and swung his sword around and put it back into it's sheath. "At the same time when I beat you in front of all of your men you can save face." Brain was confident, that was a good sign for Gazef's chances.

During their battle during the tournament Gazef dealt Brain a crushing defeat, and knowing that guy's massive pride he should have dedicated the past several years primarily to training. But if he still hasn't been able to do anything about that overwhelming pride of his then Gazef had what you call an opening.

"Possibility sense." The hairs went up Gazef's spine, where did Brain get this power from? Has he been chopping demihuman's to pieces in the north all this time? "You've gotten stronger Brain."

"You haven't." Brain stated as he assumed a familiar stance. "Are you done talking yet?"

Indeed Gazef felt truth in Brain's words, unlike Brain who should've had the free time to train all this time the bulk of Gazef's time lately was spent patrolling and fighting for the kingdom.

"Right then."

By now Brain should have already used his custom Martial Art Field to increase his spatial perception to it's peak, the moment that Gazef steps into that field he would be cut down, so in other words it came down to a single clash of martial arts. Since Brain already made his preparations Gazef made a few of his own, activating numerous buffing type Martial Arts: Pace of Wind, Strengthen Body, Flow Acceleration, Focus Battle Aura, Full Throttle and Mental enhancement. Noting that the two combatants seemed ready, Climb took out one of his three magic bells and rang it. The first sound was of metal on metal clash, Brain's God Flash counted the first strike of Gazef's Sixfold Slash of light, Brain, whose body was over a dozen times stronger then Gazef, found himself recoiling, while Gazef used instant counter and instant reflex to correct his balance. Gazef meant to end this in a single stroke but Brain needed at least a draw. Brain followed up with Gazef's own attack that he used to defeat him the first time, Fourfold Slash of light, and with Brain's super human senses he was able to direct each blow to hit each of Gazef's own strikes resulting in a series of clang noises. Then, two spurts of blood sprayed over the crowd: Brain's katanna had taken one of Gazef's nostril's, Gazef's bastard had carved out most of Brain's cheek, it was a draw in accordance with the rules of the duel.

"Ha... Ha..." Gazef needed time to regain his breath, throwing out martial art after martial art had exhausted him mentally and physically, one of his subordinates brought him a stamina potion and Gazef downed it without hesitation getting his breathing under control. "What were you just using right now?"

"I met someone stronger than you." Brain stated as he brought the blade to his lips and licked the blood off of it. "Don't piss those people off Gazef. I've only been with them for a couple of month's and look at what I'm like now." Brain looked down at his hands, hands of a vampire, hands of a elf, hands of a dwarf all rolled into one package, but that wasn't just it. "Using magic to produce powerful monsters, using buffing spells to increase your stats to super human levels, using healing magic to cure your wounds. Repeating that cycle over, and over, and over again."

As Brain understood, once you've gathered enough life force you acquire 'skill points' which can be used the near instantly to learn magic and martial arts. Thanks to limitless stamina of a Dhampire Brain has been doing nothing but accumulating life force twenty four seven feeding off of his opponents, receiving constant healing and being buffed non-stopped Brain had waded his way through a sea of bodies and blood. Now Brain had drunk the blood of the only person to ever best him in combat, taking in all of his years of training at the hands of that old man, and now Brain had taken in every martial art he knew into himself.

"... it sounds like the life you chose is not easy." Gazef stated gulping in surprise.

"I didn't choose it." Brain corrected. "This is what I was born to do." Brain put the blade away as he walked away.

"You're not going to stick around?" Gazef asked looking puzzled with Brain suddenly leaving.

"I got what I was sent here for." Now that Brain had the Martial Arts of Gazef he would probably be sent back to Nazarick to train that stupid hamster and the even stupider Minions in his Martial arts.

"Come on Brain." Gazef grabbed Brain by his shoulder and took him with him. "Lets go get something to drink, I'll tell you about what I've been up to lately."

"I would like to, but my sponsor doesn't like it when I drink on the job." Saying that, Brain observed as a carriage arrived in through the gate, being pulled by a eight legged horse.

* * *

"Isn't having Pandora take the form of a horse a bit of a waste?" Sebas asked cocking a brow suspiciously.

"Can't be helped, a Sleipnir is the highest class of mount these people understand." Balloma stated as she used a mirror for one last check over her person.

"We will burn the image of our arrival into their minds." Saying that, the door opened as Brain waited outside holding the door. Balloma and Sebas were escorted all the way up to the Third Princess's room and Balloma sat across from the golden haired woman in question. She was pretty looking, it's no wonder she was known as 'the golden princess' and Balloma briefly wondered if Koriander had a role in it. Briefly. "Sebas, I believe you were going to show the boy a few more pointers while we talked yes?" Balloma asked giving Sebas his cue.

"Of course madam." Sebas gestured to the door.

"Oh that's a wonderful idea! If he's as strong as you say he is then he can teach you something super cool Climb!" Renner seemed to bounce with excitement at the idea.

Unable to say no to that look, Climb followed Sebas's lead outside. Luckily Climb had not seen the disgusted look on Balloma's face.

"I will be frank. I've survived a long time because I know when I'm being lied to." Balloma folded her hands together as she glared hatefully at the princess. "Wipe that ugly look off of your face or this meeting is done!"

Renner seemed taken aback by Balloma's frankness. Briefly, then the Princess's face contorted in a ugly smile that stretched ear from ear.

"My my, you are as dangerous as I thought you would be." Renner stated a knowing look on her face. "Perhaps I should have you killed right now, it's not like I don't have enough justification what with those little pests you brought with you."

Suddenly the entire room was filled up as various green minions revealed themselves, all of them pointing their claws at Renner.

"Let's imagine how that scenario will go. First and foremost, you will die as soon as the warning passes your lips, this room will be flooded with guards and we will have to kill our way out eliminating every last noble, warrior and servant inside of this castle to do so, including your little pet of whom my manservant will use a revive proof martial art on, making sure that no cheap raise dead spell brings him back." Balloma stated before letting out a sigh, as if to emphasize the next part of the statement. "Unfortunately, that will also mean that we will not be able to enter this country as friends so when we take it over we will have to launch a costly and time consuming invasion."

"So, mutually assured destruction eh?" Renner continued with that warped smile as she talked. "Let's try a different strategy then? How about a partnership?"

"Just like that eh?" Balloma asked gesturing for the greens to stand down.

"For a while now, I knew that a person of great danger had entered the kingdom." Renner produced a familiar bottle of red liquid from her pocket. "If we just use your health potion as a bench mark, then scaling everything else up you're at least on the same level as the top spell caster from the Baharuth empire Fluder. But there's also the matter of your brother and sister to take into account as well." Renner placed the bottle on the table as she rested her chin atop both of her hands. "For example, there's your sister, a mage of great power, who according to the warrior captain's report wiped out one of the Six Scriptures from the Slane Theocracy. Not five minuet's later a messenger arrives inside of father's throne room shouting about how the Slane Theocracy has been wiped out by a undead monster." Balloma mentally screeched at Koriander for her reckless display of magic that destabilized much of the continent. "Then there's your brother, who eliminated a vampire that almost nothing is known about other than 'it's extremely dangerous' on the same day that a Earthquake split the Katzhe Plains, even though there has never been a Earth Quake there before." Balloma also cursed Kieran and his use of stupid amounts of violence as the first, last, best and only method to solving any given problem. "So let's assume that both of your siblings were responsible for these events: that would mean that both of them posses the power to wipe out entire countries all by themselves yes?"

"Alright two can play at that game." Balloma stated letting out a eye twitch. "You clearly possess a as yet unknown or simply unfathomable amount of intelligence, observational skills, comprehension, creativity, and leadership abilities. Everyone believes that you are simply a stupid little girl and that it is your destiny to be married off in a political marriage to the Baharuth Emperor so they clearly aren't aware of this. Constantly lacking what you would consider a intelligent conversation has likely caused you to interpret everyone around you as simply stupid bugs waiting to be squashed so that's a reasonable explanation for your sociopath tendencies." Balloma squinted her eyes as she got a look at Renner's aura. "You have a decent amount of life force yet you are suppose to be locked up in here all day so monster slaying is out for a explanation, that simply means that you have spent a very long time murdering whatever noble, servant or knight just so happens to displease you at the time. Fully aware of the personalities of the nobles and their stubborn resistance to change you made a large number of radical proposals in a way that caused most of them to fail yet when those same proposals made their way to Baharuth they implemented them and was met with great success so obviously you're skilled enough to manipulate two entire countries from this little hole yet you have no desire to do so." Balloma mulled over the matter and it's implications in her head for a moment. "So you only care about how you look but to who?"

At that moment Balloma heard the familiar echo of clashing metal in the courtyard, walking over to the balcony and looking down Balloma could see that Sebas and Climb had started a sparring match, and Renner eagerly went to the balcony to watch them.

"So, the boy then." Balloma commented fitting the pieces together. "What you fundamentally want is respect and appreciation for your abilities, that boy who hangs on your every word has done so from a early age and as such you have grown rather attached to him."

"Oh I love him with everything I have got." Renner stated as she stared off dreamily. "I want to chain him up like a dog and keep that loving gaze all to myself!"

"Right... so Kori isn't the only one like this after all." Balloma stated letting out a sigh. "To business then, if this is to be a partnership then it should be mutual. So how can I help?"

* * *

 **Review Section** :

rmarcano321: His role here is not quite done yet. Balloma is pragmatically evil, Koriander is quite the sadist and Kieran is a battle crazed lunatic. So Koriander first, then Kieran, then Balloma. Not particularly no I'm afraid.


	28. Chapter 28

**Author's Note** : Not much to say right now, a little behind on writing for a story than I would like but fortunately for you lot it's not this one. That said, Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 28: The Reason for Invasion

A group of five individuals approached the back of a guard house. The first of the individuals scratched the door with a blade, magic went to work widening the scratches into cracks, before the lock suddenly burst apart and the door was pushed open. A group of guards were attracted to the noise and for their trouble several of them were spontaneously decapitated. Their comrades responded by shoving their weapons in their general direction but their blades shattered on something hard and they thusly found themselves chopped to pieces and fire balled. Now that the group had let off their attacks the five members of six arms revealed themselves. The bald headed heavily tattooed man who served as their leader made his way down to the cells and found the effeminate looking man they had lounging in his cell but glaring at his group of would be rescuer's hatefully.

"Since my subordinate's neglect brought you to this place I won't charge you for your rescue." Zero explained before he promptly ripped the cell door off of it's hinges. "But since I suspect that we have a mutual enemy in the person who put you here I would like to know who so that I seek bloody vengeance in both your name and mine."

"Blame the princess's pet dog and his new friend Brain Unglas." Cocodoll snorted in derision. "Though I also blame your little friend Succulent, if he was there I wouldn't be in this predicament!" Cocodoll snapped angrily.

"Succulent's time will come believe you me." Zero stated ominously.

"But first we have to find him. Where did you send him off to?" Zero asked as he sat across from Cocodoll in the cell.

"Some merchandise went missing from our brothel and I sent him to retrieve it, I haven't heard from him since. Wanna know what mansion we sent him to?" Cocodoll asked the beginnings of a smile forming on his face.

* * *

"A paladin?" Climb asked using a towel to wipe sweat off of his face.

"You do meet the requirements, you'd probably make for a most excellent paladin." Sebas explained as he took the towel from Climb.

"I thought that only those with a strong belief in the gods can receive their power?" Climb asked looking mighty confused with Sebas's explanation.

"One of my Mistresses, Lady Koriander, has been conducting research into the subject of holy power for some time now. The gods of our homeland are different from the ones that you know, yet the end result is still the same. So instead of being gifted with power in exchange for worshiping them, it would be more accurate to say that power is being generated by the belief itself, if that is the case it doesn't matter what you believe in, merely that you do so with absolute faith. Your mistress for example." Climb was shocked by the revelation that Sebas had just given him. "With the understanding that you have been stockpiling holy power all this time, then what you really need to do is unlock it. I know someone that you could probably talk to about that."

"Thank you very much Lord Sebas!" Climb bowed before Sebas before he downed a stamina potion. "But I have to return to My mistress's side." Climb gestured upwards and Sebas looked up to see Renner and Balloma looking down at them.

"Then I shall do the same." The two men returned to their mistresses sides.

Climb was sent off to arrange a meeting with Blue Rose while Sebas and Balloma reunited and returned to the carriage.

"Anything of importance mistress?" Sebas asked cocking a brow in interest.

"Some pests are causing trouble for the kingdom, we've already captured one of their agents and Demiurge should have extracted a large amount of relevant information from him, so we'll gift the information to Renner as a gift from us to her." Balloma stated sitting in the carriage. "Either way we've secured favor with the royal family, all of our basic objectives have been completed, but before we go Demiurge mentioned that he would like to pick up some wheat for the farm."

"In that case, should we begin removing the security precautions around the mansion?" Sebas asked cocking a brow suspiciously.

"You aren't concerned about your little friend?" Balloma asked cocking a brow suspiciously. "I can't see anyone having enough of a problem with her to want her dead, and if they did the minions are still at the mansion." Sebas stated confident that they had nothing to worry about.

* * *

All throughout the house not a creature was stirring, not a creature bar one. No, this was not a holiday, though the number of drunk Minions passed out snoring on the floor, furniture inside and on top of emptied barrels would indicate otherwise. Tsuare was astounded that something so small can drink so much, still Tsuare went to work cleaning up after them. Lacking the physical strength to pick them up by the arm load and carry them to the transportation circle Tsuare decided to make use of the empty barrels present and simply stuffed the minions inside and rolled them downstairs into the basement. It might have taken her the better part of the evening but she finally got them all cleaned up. Still she had to get the rest of the mansion scrubbed clean, they were moving out tonight after all. Thus Tsuare got the bucket and scrub broom ready and set to work, because by the looks of things the blues weren't going to use their cleaning spells anytime soon. Then a dented boom sound echoed behind her and she spun around to see that someone had just blown a hole in the front door of the mansion. Then the butt of a blade was slammed into her face from out of no where.

* * *

Renner was having a busy day, on top of her original meeting with Balloma and the one she was planning to have with Blue Rose she was currently having a meeting with her brother Zanac and his associate Marquis Raeven. The two were surprised to see Renner simply call them out like this, but both of them knew of her true nature, and when she greeted them with that twisted grin of hers, they knew she meant business.

"Good day Marquis, ah I see you brought along my brother too, that will save time." Renner stated as she forced her regular 'princess face' seeing what kind of reaction her 'real' smile was having. "Simply put, I believe the time has come that we finally exterminate the plague on our lands that is Eight Fingers."

"Easier said then done sis." Zanac stated cocking a vaguely interested brow. "There's no doubt in my mind where the bulk of power in this kingdom lies." Zanac stated simply. If he was to organize it into three categories, the list would be the criminal element under the control of Eight Fingers first, then the adventurer's bound by the rules of non interference of the guild, and at the bottom was the kingdom. To be more specific, the difference between the second and last of those three factions was night and day. "I do hope you have a plan to correct these egregious injustices."

"Marquis Raeven, leader of the noble faction sir." Thus Raeven realized that he held no secret from Renner. "The members of the Royal faction has numerous holdings in monster infested territory yes?"

"Hmm. The beasts have been quite vigorous as of late." The Marquis stated nodding his head in approval. "I guess we should hire some high ranked adventurer teams, Mythril and above."

"Perhaps we should devise a test first Marquis." Zanac chimed in realizing the subtex of what is going on here. "After all, all the adventurer teams mythril and up in the country seems a little extreme: perhaps we should get them to help the guard's round up some trouble makers?"

"Excellent idea Big Brother!" Renner stated clapping her hands together. "You're so smart You'll make a great king of the country one day!"

"Oh?" Zanac picked up on the subtext of what Renner was saying. "And what would you like in exchange for that praise big sis?" Zanac asked, aware that of the five children of the king Renner held the most influence, her support and council was two of the greatest gifts a future king could ask for.

"I would want to marry my Climb of course!" Renner replied as if her answer was obvious.

"Done." Zanac held out his hand for his sister to shake.

"Congratulations on your coronation big Brother." Renner stated shaking Zanac's hand.

* * *

Sebas was fuming, boiling with rage, as he crumpled a piece of paper in one of his hands, a message from Six Arms detailing the time and place they were to meet for Sebas's execution. Several Minions could swear that they could see steam coming out of his ears, the fact that they themselves were a partial source of this rage likely added to the illusion. Thus the minions, doing their best to use each other as meat shields, backed away from the individual whom could crush all of them with the same ease that he would swat a fly.

"ALL OF YOU...!" Sebas shouted, his voice sent shock waves through their cores. Then he inhaled sharply. "All of you are to report to Neuronist for your punishment. Now." Sebas stated in a forcibly calm tone of voice. Several Minions let out a high pitch whine at once. "Now!" Now Sebas was letting a minuscule amount of his rage bleed through.

At once Pandora made use of a broom to chase the little trouble makers into the transportation circle.

"If I might be so bold Sebas, what are your intentions?" The self proclaimed accountant asked cocking a eye hole to Sebas.

"I intend to get her back!" Sebas stated making his rage blatant.

"That is good, but unless you have mastered the ability to be in two places at once that will be quite a bit difficult." Pandora commented scratching at his chin, which made Sebas pause. "They intend to fight you directly yes? With the intention of killing you no less. So what happens if they fail, what happens if they have some two bit cronie standing by to exact revenge for them post mortem hmm? It is better to consult with the mistress on this matter is it not?" Sebas muled over Pandora's question for all of five seconds.

"Can you inform her of what I intend to do?" Sebas asked giving Pandora a side long glance.

"Gladly." Pandora stated straightening up his back. "Good luck to you Sebas sir." Nodding his head, Sebas left the mansion as quickly as he could.

* * *

Kieran, along with several lizardmen, Minions and Cocytus, was currently in one of the more recently installed of Nazarick's features was a series of bathing pools, Cold Bath's, Hot tubs, Slimes, various different environments for both mixed, male and Female bathing faculties. Currently the only male among the overlord candidates was enjoying the cold water bath. Kieran was looking through the latest of Koriander's reports, the Undead still couldn't find Clementine in the Slane Theocracy's former capital, so it was unlikely that she was there. The bulk of the survivors of that event fled into the Baharuth empire, so Clementine might have gone with them to that place. According to Rose's intelligence that place was now under control of the Shining Justice, and was in the midst of rallying their forces to launch a full scale invasion of the Re-Estize Kingdom with the intent on conquering it as well. Obviously, with it's prime real estate nestled in the cup of a mountain range the Re-Estize kingdom was the most defensible location on the continent. But repeating the same strategy as before, holding up in the most defensible location possible against the Shining Justice as their rampant appropriation of the Golden transforms the landscape and turns it against them, seemed unwise. They didn't come to this continent to hide they came here to conquer and conquer is what they intended to do. That said if they wanted to make the Re-Estize their staging ground then they had to act fast, before the over puffed do gooders managed to take it.

" _Kieran, I need to have a word with you._ " Balloma's angered voice in Kieran's head stated through a message spell.

"And what offense have you imagined that I have committed this time?" Kieran asked as he took an apple that had been floating in the water and bit into it.

" _We have a new military operation to discuss._ " Balloma stated in a greatly displeased tone.

"You work me like a dog woman, give me a damned day off!" Kieran stated as he drunk red liquid.

" _You'll get to slaughter an army of demons._ " To Balloma's words Kieran dumped the liquid down his throat and stood straight up causing the nearby minions and lizard people to take notice.

"I'll be right over!"

* * *

 **Review Section** :

Chronos0305: Hope I didn't disappoint, stupid is not my strong suit.

rmarcano321: Not to mention that Renner has Balloma figured out. It seemed stupid to attack the golden with Minions, and at the very least Balloma isn't stupid. As smart as or smarter, at least she isn't so blind with hero worship to not be able to spot a newb posing as a overlord. Hard to say, Balloma has what is called pragmatic evil, which means that she won't do anything horrible to you without reason, Kieran is a battle crazed lunatic but is other wise cordial, and Koriander is friendly but her idea of a gift is to carve flowers into your still living bone marrow. I have a few plans for a number of demonic and undead, but I consider which ones to be spoiler territory. Essentially each of them is competing and working together to become the next Overlord and eliminating the Shining Justice and their Golden Plague, individually however Kieran would like to build a army, Koriander a magic institute and Balloma a nation. If they wanted to Kieran and Koriander could rip open the earth for a hundred miles and tear down the sky on top of the people's heads, if world destruction was their goal they would accomplish it within about eight hours.

Guest: Ah my apologies, I need to be more stringent with my grammar checks.


	29. Chapter 29

**Author's Note** : Nothing to say right now, Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 29: Demons in the Kingdom

As soon as Kieran arrived in the Guild Hall he received notice that his presence had been requested in the capital by a Marquis, since they seemed to disapprove of him using teleportation magic he was instead put before several mages used floating board to create a barrier platform for Kieran and Mithril ranked adventures to sit on before the mages used fly to carry them all over the countryside to the capital. They barely explained what it was they were suppose to do, though according to Balloma's message they were suppose to be fighting a army of demons tonight. That said unless demons was all of a sudden another way of saying trees there weren't many down there right now.

"Master is there something wrong?" Hamsuke asked looking at Kieran who was sitting in front of the giant rodent.

"I can't help but get this nagging feeling like I'm being punked." Kieran stated scratching his chin.

* * *

Balloma was back in the mansion, it's security measures restore minuets ago, alongside the top ranked vassals of Nazarick.

"These are our objectives." Balloma stated denoting eight separate buildings that were being shown on a giant Crystal map she had Demiurge prepare. "Each one of these locations represents a base of operations for one of the executives from Eight Fingers. So that we can take each base and each executive quietly, we will launch a full scale demonic invasion of the capital as a smoke screen." The individuals that Balloma was talking to consisted of Demiurge, Shalltear, Sebas, Pandora's Actor, Aura and Mare. "Under the cover of this smoke screen there are four key objectives we need to complete. Demiurge, you and your subordinates will use 'Armageddon Evil' to spawn the demon army. You will also summon a high tier Demon to serve as the commander for the army who will be defeated in battle by either Koriander or Kieran."

"At once Mistress." Demiurge nodded to Balloma's instructions.

"Secondly, we are going raid the kingdom's warehouses for their supplies, a task that I will leave to Shalltear who will transport the materials back to Nazarick." Balloma stated directing her attention to Shalltear.

"It shall be a pleasure." Shalltear replied smiling warmly.

"Sebas will go to the meeting with Six arms as planned and wipe out the security division." Balloma instructed directing her attention to Sebas.

"Understood Mistress." Sebas stated nodding his head.

"Mare, Aura, I leave the task of clearing out each of the head quarters of Eight Fingers and securing their division heads to you and your subordinates and bringing them back to Nazarick: alive would be preferable." Balloma stated looking at the shortest person in the room.

"Yes!" Aura and Mare stated simultaneously.

"Pandora, once the demonic attack begins we will begin using teleportation magic to move people out dividing them into two groups, Nobles and the citizenry, I want you to lead the evacuation effort using your shape shifting abilities." Balloma stated eyeing the doppelganger in question.

"Consider it done!" Pandora stated locking legs together and giving a salute.

"My it does sound like you were busy." Balloma looked over to the entry way to see Koriander standing there. "Tell me something sister, has these Eight Fingers done something irksome to you?"

"Ignoring my personal stake in these matters, it occurred to me a method by which in debt this kingdom to us and force a alliance: we will simply fake an invasion, and then defeat it." Balloma stated shrugging simply.

"Hmm. That does sound clever doesn't it." Koriander asked her grin twisted sinisterly.

"If I could interject mistress." Demiurge stated raising his hand. "But I was wondering if it would be possible to abduct some humans for experimentation?"

"With the exception of Sebas's pet, you can take any human from within the Security division of Eight Fingers for experimentation." Balloma stated as she altered the image on the crystal board, producing the picture of a young man with orange hair and Mythril armor.

"This human is not to be harmed: Under any circumstances am I understood?" Balloma instructed prompting those present to let out their own cries of acknowledgement.

* * *

The adventurer's gathered from E-Rantle were crowded together in the Re-Estize Capital Guild house, Kieran was sitting on the stairs leading into the top floor of the guild hall.

"Adventurer's of the Re-Estize Kingdom, I apologize but you have been gathered here under false pretenses." The Marquis, Raeven as Kieran recalled his name was earlier, explained gesturing upwards with his hands. "You are not here to guard the residences of noble family's as the job advertisement describes. But rather we have gathered you all here to ask, or plead as the case might be, for your aid to exterminate a plague that has wracked our kingdom for many years now. One that snatches people from the streets, floods it with poison, and leaves ruin in it's wake. We have brought you here to help us wipe the group known as Eight Fingers from the map." Many of the adventures started to discuss that matter among themselves. There was so much noise going on that Kieran almost missed the racket that the horses were picking up outside. "We know that it may seem unreasonable to you, after all your guild forbids that you take part in squabbles among humans but..."

"But Blue Rose has already pledged their loyalty to the Kingdom's Cause!" A woman who to Kieran's irritation wore armor with the decoration of the Unicorn on it, Lakyus, stepped forward. "For Tonight only, I consider anyone who partakes in the defense of this city a member of Blue Rose, if any of you are asked to leave, then everyone of us will as well!" The gathered Adventurer's all cheered pumping their fists into the air for Lakyus's declaration, all except for Kieran who was looking out the window.

"If I might interrupt." Kieran commented prompting those present to look at him. "While your speech writing abilities are obviously second to none, I don't think anyone will be asked to leave the Adventurer's guild today." Saying that, Kieran took out one of his blades and lit it on flame, before using it to tear down the wall beside him.

Kieran's random act of destruction soon made sense when a hand reached through the smoke and dust to grab him and pull him to the other side. Most of the Adventurer's rushed outside and for good reason, for high above the city seven magic circles the size of city blocks had appeared and demons of all kinds were dropping down from the sky.

"What the hell!?" Lakyus muttered watching the demonic parade that had appeared.

" **Denizens of Re-Estize kingdom!** " An Evil Lord Wrath, a huge hulking demon built like a dragon with huge wings coming out the back and head made out of flame. " **I am the Demon Lord Jaldaboath! You have taken a artifact that threatens our existence, for this crime you will be annihilated swiftly and without a singular ounce of Mercy!** " Then, the fire balls started to drop.

"Well I guess I got work to do." Saying that, Kieran plunged his blades into the ground all the way up to the Hilt.

The ground beneath Kieran exploded shooting him straight up into the air at break neck speeds. Then Kieran ignited the blades as he twisted his body around, creating a storm of fire and he drew in every demon around him and butchered them like some frenzied blender. Only when the Demons stopped attacking him did Kieran find trouble, for with no foot hold in the sky gravity started to resume it's natural course and he fell back to the city below.

"I'm coming Master!" Shouting that, the Adventurer's watched as the Wise King of the Forest used fly to take off into the air and catch Kieran on her back.

"What are you moron's standing around for!" Kieran shouted to the crowd of Adventurer's below.

"Most of the Demons can't Fly, hunt them down! Send word to the Knights and the Mages! Evacuate the Citizenry!" The adventurer's would feel shame for their own stunning astonishment had they the time but as it stood they did not, they split themselves up and they ran about putting blade to demons. "Hamster! Throw me at that hot head in the middle of this mess now!"

"Yes Sir!" Following Kieran's commands Hamsuke picked Kieran up by one of his arms and chucked him as hard as she could at Jaldaboath. Kieran cut deep into the demon with his blades and quickly made his way around the beast to the other side and grabbed a hold of it's back wings before ripping them from the self proclaimed Demon Lord's body, causing the beast to plummet to the earth while Kieran floated gently down on make shift parachutes.

" **Ugh. Retreat! Grab every Human you can carry!** "

And they did, ripping homes asunder the demons carried off one or two humans at a time giving zero cares to the Adventurer's as they made their escape, and just to show how badly they thought of the adventurer's another rain of fire came down to stop their chase. As if stating 'you will not pass' after a certain point a huge barrier of flame was erupted in the middle of the capital cutting off anymore would be rescuers. While adventurer's high on the magical buffs of the Magician's guild rampaged against the demons a meeting was called between their greatest warriors, the leaders of the Adamantine adventures and the city's guild master alongside the guild masters of mages and Knights guild. The last to arrive to the meeting was as typical the most important, Balloma and a masked Koriander were escorted inside by a group of knights being led by Gazef and the royal family Prince Zanac and Princess Renner.

"So it was you." Gazef commented recognizing the distinct blackness of Adamantine armor and the capes born of Wolf skin. The warrior captain stretched out his hand for Kieran to shake. "I never did thank you for saving that village."

"It was nothing." Kieran stated shaking the other man's hand and not letting him know the true context of those words. "I assume that we have a meeting to start then?"

The Kingdom's network of intelligence agents summed up the situation: Seven Demons presumed to be of lord class including Jaldabaoth had used magic to summon a hoard seven hundred demons strong into every facet of the city. After witnessing the Adventurer's dispatch so many of their numbers they decided to press their flight advantage as they tore through the city plundering it of every human that wasn't strong enough to fend them off. After all, for demons humans were a rare delicacy. The adventurer's responded any way they could, grounding as many of the demons as they could and letting the stronger among them finish them off. The Seven Evil lords response to this strategy was to use magic to dump more summoned demons into the city as they sought to overwhelm the adventurers with numbers and quality, in some places they were succeeding.

"This cannot be allowed to continue!" Over come with outrage the King slammed his fist against the bar of the guild hall. "These demons are toying with us!"

"Father please calm down." Renner took her father by his arm and led him to one of the tables of the bar.

"Endlessly slaying these demons as they spawn will get us no where. What must be done is to find the ones responsible for this and end them." Kieran stated as Balloma threw up a map on the table.

"We've been able to identify demon lords located here..." Balloma followed up with several more here's as she identified the places where the demons lords made their roosts. "Unfortunately knowing where they roost is only half the battle. Not even Kieran can fight his way through that many Demons." Kieran raised his finger to protest that particular claim. "In a timely enough manner to save this kingdom from collapse." Kieran retracted his finger and the point he intended to make with it. "We must deploy a anvil and hammer strategy." Illustrating her point Balloma drew a anvil in the courtyard of the palace, and then a hammer above each of the circles that she had drew earlier. "Gather together all of the demons in one place and leave the Evil Lords open for attack."

"A sound strategy, but what do we use for the bait?" Gazef asked scratching his chin.

"Perhaps Lord Kieran can draw them in?" Renner asked putting her hands together in a begging type motion. "Recall the opening attack against Lord Wrath? They're as infuriated with Lord Kieran as they are afraid of his power. They'll want him dead but they'll realize that they'll need a huge number of Demons to do it." Sudden realization dawned on the faces of the others but they quickly nodded their heads agreeing with the assessment of Renner.

"But if we use Kieran as our Anvil, then who will play hammer?" Zanac was the one to pipe up this time.

"Please, do you think that Kieran is the only one to have our father's blood in his veins?" Koriander asked laughing at the prince's seeming foolishness.

"You mean to say that not only does one exist with lord Kieran's power but..." The King was so stunned he couldn't even finish his sentence.

"My King. I have personally witness Lady Koriander exterminate one of the Six Scriptures of the Slane Theocracy single handily, if she claims that such beings are within her power to destroy then I see no reason why not to believe her." Gazef stated the look on his face full of confidence.

"We must also send a unit to rescue the people that the demons took with them." Climb piped up that caused those present to nod their heads.

"I suppose that will be my job then." A somewhat annoyed Balloma stated rolling her shoulders.

"Can you fight?" Climb felt his question was quite legitimate considering that of the three siblings Balloma was the only one not dressed for a fight.

"You will find me strong enough boy." Saying that, Koriander threw Balloma a wooden stick that she subsequently snapped between her fingers.

Balloma was enveloped in light, replacing a noble woman's clothes was the armor of a rogue, a cuirass made to resemble lightning coming down from above, shoulders that had lines spreading off of them like wings, a armored skirt depicting a serpent and boots made to resemble hurricanes. One gauntlet was a pristine almost angelic white, and the other blood red with gagged lines, as if they were pride off of a archangel and a demon lord respectively.

"I thank you for your confidence but I'm afraid that even I and my siblings can't be in anymore than three places at once." Saying that Koriander tapped her staff and a dark portal appeared at her feet, from which little hands of brown, green, red and blue emerged and pulled themselves out. "Fortunately, we have our own forces to contribute."

These Minions were known as redcaps, named so for the red berets that each of them wore that served as the equivalent of a metal of distinguish service among the goblin like creatures. The elite forces of the Gown siblings and they proved it with the reckless enthusiasm that they took to with dispatching the demons. In one instance a group of beleaguered guards bore witness as two browns catapulted a Warg with skin hanging between it's legs like a flying squirrel and took down a flying demon. Other's reported hearing the distinctive howling shriek of balls of fire arcing through the air at high speeds and crashing down on the demons with a thunderous boom. Many bore witness as demons simply dropped dead, their throats slash and arteries torn by invisible blades. Dozens of adventurer's, Knights and Guards found their bodies filled with the magical power of buffing type spells while their wounds vanished into thin air under the light of healing magic. Some even reports of fallen warriors getting back up in perfect health to strike back at the demons. Within hours the Minions had turned the rag tag army of humans who had been struggling against the demon hoard into a capable fighting force that charged ahead without fear.

"Well at least the minions are having fun." Kieran noted in a displeased tone, having been made to act as live bait against their own demonic horde.

Still, the night wasn't a complete loss, the minions pulling the people's collective tails from the both proverbial and literal fire should have deepened their since of comradely with the little psychopaths, and the experience points they were racking up from fighting so many powerful demons would give the Shining Justice reason to pause in concern when the time came. Now to do his part, Kieran was to act as live bait and if these things came from where he thought they came from he had the perfect thing to get their attention. First Kieran placed a hour glass into his mouth, Clock of Stolas, a magic item that Koriander had made at great cost, one that could instantly accelerate time by just enough to complete a attack with a couple minuet long charge time. Holding up his blade straight into the air Kieran concentrated, and let green colored Ki coated the blade. The bright light attracted the attention of many demons and several of them started making their way to Kieran, only to be intercepted by the fire of sniper type reds. Then the demons saw the distinct color of brown Ki mix into the green in a swirling mass, and they spread word of what Kieran was doing, recognizing the build up of the super tier martial art when they saw it. By the time the blade turned blue the demons renewed their attacks with a rampant vigor and even the adventurer's and citizenry could see the mass of multicolored light through the horde of other worldly monsters. By the time the light turned red, they were hurling everything they had at the invaders of their kingdom, trying desperately to buy Kieran the time he needed to finish his attack, but it was too late, the demons had already broken through the assault. A gargoyle was a mere foot from Kieran's face when he held his head up and revealed the hour glass locked in grinning jaws. Then the demons shrieked in terror as said jaws snapped shut. In that instant, the power of the damned and divine mixed into the blade and Kieran unleashed it's full power on the demons who had competed for the right to rend him limb from limb, the horizontal slash ripped the roofs off of the tops of the buildings throughout the city and many on the ground found themselves being blown away.

"What's the matter!?" Kieran shouted even as surviving demons fled in terror and the Evil lords stared in shock at the display of super tier Martial arts. The Demons attempted their tenth tier magic again to summon their hordes once more but someone was having none of it.

"Na, ah, ah." Koriander stated slamming the butt of her staff into the ground as she was enveloped in the light of summoning magic. "I can't let my brother have all the fun now can I?"

* * *

 **Review Section** :

rmarcano321: That they are. Oh not true, at the rate they were going infighting was going to do them in before anything else. Velvet and her lack of interest in magic means that old age eventually did her in. Oh same old story, bunch of thugs get together and set up a protection racket where they get a bunch of monsters to attack human settlements and then they heroically chase them off, then a unicorn gets in on the action and it all goes down hill. It lobotomizes people what do you think is so bad about it? No.


	30. Chapter 30

**Author's Note** : So I've gotten some reviews and Private messages as of late that I have to say makes me feel a teensi bit under appreciated. You know who you are. I've no intention of using someone else's ideas, no matter how many times and how many ways you find to ask me. If you're only reading this because you want someone else to write your story for you I beg you reconsider.

* * *

Chapter 30: The Great and powerful Demons

Sebas arrived outside of the designated location of Six Arm's base of operations. The minions were already hard at work putting up a barrier that would both physically and visually cut this place off from the outside world. There would be no interruptions from outside and no escape from inside. With that in mind Sebas crossed over the gate as the barrier closed. When Sebas heard the name Six arms he naturally expected there to be six members of the group, true Succulent had already been taken out of the picture, but that should leave five people, not the four gathered together in front of him.

"Is one of you named Zero?" Sebas asked cocking a brow suspiciously.

"He's up there." One human dressed as a trashy whore who's name Sebas couldn't be bothered to remember stated using one of her floating blades to point to the balcony above them. "A bunch of our clients are looking forward to watching us beat you to death." Sebas pointed up to the balcony and a near invisible blur rushed past through the air. "What are trying to call out Zero or something?"

"It's nothing you should be concerned about, I assure you." Suddenly, that woman whose dress was better suited to picking up men of low character as opposed to a warrior suddenly had her head parted from her body. The blades that had been floating behind that trashy woman's body's snapped themselves against the nigh indestructible body of a top tier monk. "So you attack me even after you are dead hmm? I admire your warrior spirit."

Not that that admiration would spare any of them of the fate that awaited them. The knight slashed down his sword whip while the fencer rushed forward to stab the monk. Sebas caught the wire at the same time he flicked that blade, sending it cartwheeling through the air bisecting it's one time master's head while Sebas used the whip to lasso the head of it's wielder and pulled, parting the head from it's shoulders. The Elder lich desperately fire balled Sebas and for his trouble found his head parted from his shoulders by a single punch.

"Hmm. About Twelve seconds." Sebas noted looking down at the four corpses at his feet. "Is Zero up there?" Sebas asked looking up at the minions who had packaged the nobles who had come to watch him die in spider webbing. Blade shook his head as a zipline was being set up into a portal that the blues were preparing. "Have these individuals sent to Nazarick and sorted according to Demiurge's whims." Saying that, Sebas continued into the main compound as the men present were attacked by giant spiders.

* * *

The humans were doing better then Koriander expected they would, but when you consider that the minions were buffing them it became of little concern. Using divination magic Koriander tracked down the leader of the Evil Lords, Wrath. When Koriander saw Kieran use a Super Tier Attack to wipe out the majority of the demons she knew that the time had come for her to act as well, hence she began testing the new magics she had been developing.

"Low tier summoning magic should work." Koriander knew three classes of summoning magic, summon creature, summon demon that could also double as a buff via demonic possession, and create undead. Koriander's experiment was to manufacture a new more powerful variety of summoned creature by combining together multiple summons spells. "Summon Low Tier NetherGhul: Possessed Skeletons!" A large magic circle appeared, and from that five being's carrying rusty blades appeared, Goblin skeletons, their bodies sheathed in the aura of demonic possession.

"Is... that it?" Some knights were not impressed by the display of Koriander's magic.

"My apologies but this is only just a experiment to min max my spells output." The enemy evil lord seemed to have deployed his backup, a werewolf, a Black Slime, a Tarantula Hawk Arachne, a Automaton, and a Dullahan. "Now then boys, I won't be giving you any special buffs, you're gonna have to beat those ladies all by yourselves!" Now that Koriander had created monsters that combined together three different kinds of summons, the next step would be to guage their power. Ideally it would be best if they had power equal to that of a mid tier summon. "Attack."

The tiny skeletons charged forward, the Dullahan pulled a huge shadowy halberd out of her neck hole and swung down on the little skeletons. Normally, when a mid tier creature clashed against a low tier one, the end result should be that the low tier creature would be destroyed. However the distinct clang of a metal on metal clash rung out instead, one of the possessed skeletons let out a clash as it used the butt of it's blade to knock away the incoming strike. The werewolf let loose with a paw swipe and missed one of the possessed skeletons and for it's trouble got smacked in it's jaw by the butt of the blade. Like that the group of mid-tier monsters and the group of skeleton warriors that should be low tier clashed against one another. The Skeleton's held a distinct advantage in not being hit, their smaller size made the ideal counter against the area of effect attacks of the five monsters they were fighting against. When they were hit they also held the advantage in recovery time: the presence of negative energy in their bodies continuously empowered them and restored them. However the monsters held the advantage in offensive power wielding properly maintained weapons that ran counter to the theme of rusted decay of the skeletons blades. Even so, witnessing the clash of powers here, Koriander was confident that the goals of her experiment had been met.

"That's enough now." Koriander stated clapping her hands, prompting the tired monsters to look at her confused. "This stage of the experiment is now over." Saying that, magic portals appeared below the feet of the five monsters. Koriander never understood people's fascination with shouting the names of their spells and martial arts, they work just as well when you don't announce your intentions in advance, that said when you don't do that you can secure the element of surprise with relative ease. Thus the five surprised monsters were all sucked into a magic portal and spat out in a variety of other places throughout the Kingdom.

"...Why didn't you do that sooner?" One Knight asked accusingly a look of pure betrayal on his face.

"I needed punching bags for my experiment." Koriander replied un-apologetically.

"...You don't need our protection at all do you?" The Knight asked glaring in dissatisfaction.

"Not from anything the likes of you could defeat no." Koriander stated shrugging her shoulders with a smile.

"...Lads spread out, lets see if we can find someone who actually needs our help." The knight stated as his men began splitting up.

"Before you go." Koriander held her hand out and a huge number of different layers of magic light appeared on their bodies that caused the men to be imbued with large amounts of power. "There, now you can make yourselves useful." The men shot Koriander a scathing glare before they left. "Now than let's see here... that should do the trick." Thus Koriander once again held out her hand. "Summon Low Tier NetherGhul: Shadow Crab!" Koriander cast that spell over and over again, producing fifteen twenty foot tall mud crabs made out of shadowy mist and covered in the light of demonic possession. Now that Koriander confirmed the power of her summons there was a second fact that needed addressing, new more powerful punching bags. "Go find a high tier demon for me." Following Koriander's orders, the monsters she had just created dispersed into the capital tearing apart demonic summons as they went.

* * *

"That Koriander lady certainly is one tough cookie." Gagaran commented watching as the newly minted monster Koriander had just made tore into a huge Overeating that she and her companions had just gotten ready to fight. "Oi Evil Eye, you ever see a summon like that before?" The largest of the three adventurer's present Gagaran, asked to the second smallest among her companions.

"No, I wonder if she's from the Empire." That prompted a look of surprise from Gagaran and Tina. "They have a entire institute dedicated to the research and development of new kinds of magic." Evil Eye Clarified prompting the two adventurer's to nod in understanding.

Something crashed down from above, the Arachne that Koriander had just sicced skeletons on pounced on the mud crab and stabbed it with some kind of blade in a critical area, dispersing it.

"Welp. Looks like it's our turn now." Gagaran got her war hammer ready, Tina got her blades ready while Evil Eye used buffing spells on the both of them.

The Arachne used divination magic to check on the stats of her enemies. Evil eye was about her level, while her two companions were only a bit lower, if she had bad compatibility against them then the possibility was quite high that she could die from this encounter and in accordance with her strict orders that she was to run away if out matched the Arachne chose to flee.

"Well that was unexpected." Gagaran commented looking rather disappointed with herself.

"Be disappointed on your own time there's another one coming this way!" Evil Eye snapped as another Over Eating charged into the fray.

* * *

The soldiers were screaming as they were speared by lances of darkness, the Dullahan had shadows spilling out from her severed neckline in a tidal wave and it was consuming the bodies of the warriors. The mages being defended by the guards attempted to bombard the Dullahan with magic, but even the minions were being ruthlessly slaughtered like cattle under that relentless wave of darkness.

"Stop right there!"

Two more adventurer's had appeared, one a paladin with the dance enchantment placed on several swords floating behind her and a singular dark black cursed Great sword being held in front of her ready to strike. The other a Ninja who was already producing shadow clones of herself. In response to this, the Dullahan used a single Halberd swipe to chop the heads from the magic casters present, her shadows entered those disembodied heads from the neck and suddenly the heads twitched to life, their eye color drained and replaced with a navy blue. Various spells were cast as the body of that undead that used the heads of her enemies as weapons was wrapped in a rainbow of buffing spells. Shadowy ax's and spears that were being continuously mass produced were given enchantments for fire, electricity, ice, poison and everything else those mages knew how to do.

"Bitch!" The Paladin inappropriately cursed glaring hatefully at her enemy in front of her.

The Dullahan too could use divination magic, the two before her were vastly weaker then her, and that ominous blade radiated with negative energy that as a undead she thrived off of and thus with confidence born of knowing the difference in power she launched another wave of enchanted shadow weapons.

* * *

Another demon's hand explode as it tried to wrap around Gazef's body. Once again he had to thank the 'explode armor' enchantment the red Minions had prepared for him.

"All of you! You need to protect the royal family with your lives do you hear me!?" To Gazef's shout, the various soldiers and minions cheered.

After realizing that so many elites had been stationed to protecting him and his family, King Ramposa and his two sons Prince Barbro and Prince Zanac choose to enter the field of battle with several elite units consisting of six mages, the Warrior captain and a dozen of his subordinates, one sleipnir, and twenty red cap minions of brown, green, red and blue varieties and their mounts. However they soon met their match.

"AUUOOOOOOOO!" A huge werewolf had jumped on top of one of the buildings and was now howling to the moon, Black Slime had appeared at street level and was rapidly approaching the group, finally Gazef's shoulder was pushed off to the side a little bit as sniper fire from the Automaton hit him square to the side.

"Ugh... This is bad." The biggest threat here was that black slime. If that slime got to him the treasures of the kingdom would be lost, and that was unacceptable. "You five!"Gazef pointed to the five Salamander mounted minions. "Contain that slime!" The Minions saluted as they set their mounts aflame and rode to the black slime like they were on to of a flaming unicycle. Like that the Salamanders and the Reds contained the corrosive black slime. "We need to eliminate that sniper!"

"Explode Armor!" One of the Reds broke from their circus act for a short period of time to enchant one of the Browns.

"Throw! Throw!" The brown stated excitedly jumping up and down as one of the spiders attached a length of webbing to him.

"I see!" With that Gazef grabbed hold of that length of webbing and began rapidly spinning it through the air like a sling and chucked him through the air at the building where the Automaton had made her snipers nest.

Naturally, the Automaton sniped that flying bomb and it explode in a huge red cloud, however the Minion fell through that smoke screen intact and brought down the building that the Automaton made her nest in.

"That just leaves you and me!" Gazef stated as he charged the werewolf sword ready to strike.

* * *

"My everyone is so energetic today." Balloma stated with her cheek leaning on her fist watching various crystal screens. Through the eyes of various Minions, Balloma watched as her siblings and the forces of Re-Estize were making ground on the demonic invaders. "Even if we do have to revive some of them, their stats are starting to go up." Balloma commented wine glass in hand. The various guards and adventurer's each received dozens of mid to high level buffs from the Minions, so now their fighting strength were on the same level as mid tier monsters, they in turn slayed the demons of the middle tier and racked up experience points at an alarming rate. Soon they would be able to fight on par with the toughest of enemies that the Shining Justice could bring under their control. That just left bringing this gradually improving army under their control. "Pandora." Balloma stated bringing up another crystal Mirror using Koriander's little charm bracelet. "How is the subjugation of the nobility coming along?"

"As you instructed, the people of the city you rescued were sorted into refugee camps and are receiving food and medical supplies. But as for the Nobles." Pandora gestured to a rather disturbing sight.

Neuronist was another of the demons that Koriander summoned to do her bidding, a Brain Eater that was attached to a huge and bloated body, but contrary to that disgusting appearance the beast had unrivaled usefulness. Firstly was her skills as a interrogator, the racial ability to read the minds of one's enemy made it so that she can extract information with huge ease, there was also her ability to produce infiltrators. A egg would be planted and attached to the brain stem of a victim, when that egg hatched it would disconnect the person's brain from their spinal cord and begin eating it from the inside out, growing until they were the same size as their victim's brain. Normally the final stage of this process would have the person's head explode to reveal the Brain Eater underneath, but a combination of care from a senor Brain Eater and health potions can prevent/reverse that occurrence. Thus Balloma was treated to the sight of a group of nobles screaming in pain as their heads were hollowed out from the inside, soon they would be turned into creatures loyal only to them but with the full memories of their past existences intact.

"Grow up big and strong for Nazarick little ones, you have much more work left to do." Neuronist stated like a mother who was caressing her children.

"How much longer until they're ready?" Balloma asked leaning her chin on her fist.

"Please be patient mistress, the process is still several hours from being complete." Neuronist stated turning her attention to the crystal mirror.

"And in the mean time those two are slaughtering the demons like it's going out of style." Balloma stated as she leaned her head on her fist. "Can't be helped. Demiurge." Another Crystal Mirror was brought up. "The Demons require a bit more time, has Koriander done any research into creating high level hybrids yet?"

"As a matter of fact, there is one that has a spectacular amount of power to it." Demiurge stated holding up the specially prepared tome of magical creatures that Koriander had been working for the past few months.

"Well we don't have all day, send it over."

* * *

The Evil Lord Wrath that called itself Jaldabaoth had met it's match in terms of sheer fighting prowess. Koriander's latest build of the damned, demonic and undead featured a troll, a creature with high level regenerative abilities, possessed by a incubus, male equivalent of a succubus known for it's crushing brutal power and violent horny personality, and reanimated as a death knight, hulking undead skeleton warrior that is immune to instant death attacks and can keep fighting at full strength with only one point of health.

"Hmm. My, my. We should have summoned stronger demons to serve as our opponents." Koriander stated smirking knowingly at her opponent.

"You summoned us?" Jaldabaoth asked looking shocked.

"Well, my subordinate Demiurge did for the sake of a maximum benefit." Koriander stated looking down at her gauntlet that had a glowing blue line on it that was slowly filling up. "After all, slaughtering my own summons provides me with no benefit." Saying that, a shadow suddenly appeared over their heads blocking out the moon light, looking up Koriander was treated to the sight of the familiar creature. "Well now ain't you a treat." Koriander stated smirking knowingly.

* * *

Kieran had, at some recent point in time, picked one Over Eating up by it's arm and was using the multifaced beast to slam down on top of another Over eating. Looking up as if interrupted by the shadow, Kieran saw one of the strangest monsters he's every seen in his entire life.

"Where the hell does she keep finding these things?"

High Tier Netherghul: Draco-Lilith-Lich, using a Dragon as the base, that monster was then infested with the demon commonly known as a Brain Eater, and reanimated as a Undead Overlord. The end result was the terrifying appearance of a mummified dragon with a giant octopus for a head staring down hatefully at the denizens of the royal capital. Jaldabaoth seized the opportunity and converted himself into a black mist and entered the body of the huge patchwork monster.

" **People of the Re-Estize kingdom! Die!** "

On that note, light appeared from within those tentacles as dozens of magic circles made themselves known and then bombarded the surface of the kingdom.

* * *

rmarcano321: Commenced and almost over it would seem. She avoids it whenever possible. Maybe you've already spotted them. I've got a few ideas.


	31. Chapter 31

**Author's Note** : So, six days since my poll went up and no one's answered yet. That's disappointing.

* * *

Chapter 31: Wrath of Jaldabaoth

A brief snap echoed as Zero fell to the floor, the greens went to work packaging his body for transport wrapping. Now that Sebas was done with him he turned his attention back to Tsuare who was sitting on the back of a giant spider wrapped in a blanket of spider silk. At some point in time her nose had been broken, Sebas assumed it was when she was kidnapped.

"Hold still." Sebas pinched Tsuare's nose back into place and with a touch of Ki for added measure it was healed. "Are you okay?" Tsuare nodded her head reluctantly, in spite of what the saddened look on her face implied. "We're leaving this place. My Mistresses have set up a refugee camp for the civilians of the kingdom and as their servants we are to attend to them." Tsuare tensed up in fear at that statement. "Do not worry, you will be working in the kitchens with the minions, the mistress would prefer not to inflict any unnecessary trauma on you." Sebas stated as he carried Tsuare away.

* * *

Climb was glowing under the influence of multi-layer buffing type spells as he fought against multiple demons, in particular this 'Explode Armor' was really effective, he seriously considered getting it enchanted permanently on his armor by the little guys, but he was afraid that he didn't have the energy to power it on his own. Sniper and Bombardment type reds were forcing the demons through a narrow choke hole allowing Climb to finish off wounded demons in one on one battles. If Climb didn't know better, he would think that the Minions were just doing enough damage to allow Climb to one shot them. But shaking off those feelings for now, Climb had another Overeating to deal with. Then a huge burst of fire took the strangle hold demons out all at once and knocked Climb over. Made to look up, Climb's mouth went wide open when he saw a giant draconic, cthonic, undead horror appear above the capital spew threats and mass produce magic circles.

"That must be their ace in the hole!" Climb shouted as he was healed by the blues and the reds took aim at their enemy.

A massive number of fireballs were shot into the air by the minions and explosions rocked the under belly of the beast. The monster's response was to cast a dozen multi-layer buffing spells on it's body. A loud whistling noise echoed as Kieran used his blades to rocket through the air and soon the adamantine ace of the kingdom's forces was on the monster's behind.

"If you can't say anything nice about the man you can say this." Koriander, whom it should be noted had just appeared next to Climb, stated smirking knowingly. "He certainly has enthusiasm. Not that I don't feel the same." With that, a multilayer magic circle appeared in Koriander's hand. "Triplicate summon Mid level Netherghuls: Mini-Hecatonchires!" From the magic circle emerged three individuals emerged, eight armed ten limbed creatures in mages robes with spider heads for faces.

"What the...?" Climb was stunned by what he saw.

"Like it? I've been mixing together odds and ends from different summoning spells of the demonic and undead." Koriander stated beaming with pride.

"Why?" Climb asked his face twisted in horror.

"It's fun." Koriander stated shrugging her shoulders.

The three summoned monsters held out their hands, through eight arms they could cast four times the number of debuff spells on the beast. At the same time explosions could be heard as Kieran tore into the monster's back, bits of magical flesh flying off of his body as Kieran made his way to the miss-mashed beast's neckline.

" **RAAGGGHHH!** " The monster did a barrel roll in midair. Kieran stabbed both of his blades deep into the beast's ass and held on tight.

"That is going to cost you a limb." Another explosion echoed as Kieran shot through the air again using his blades. A huge channel was carved into the thigh of the monster flying above the city, gravity took over from there and with a snap the limb fell off with several minions vigorously firing at the leg to accelerate it's decomposition before it crashed into the city, several of the creature's face tentacles bent around it's head to take aim at Kieran and fired off several balls of fire at once. "Oh please." An aura of water covered Kieran's sword, ignoring the compatibility between the incoming attack and his blade Kieran could also sense the flow of all the energies around him, of both mana and Ki and could sense every flaw within the monster's techniques. Thus Kieran hit the balls of fire in the exact place he needed to in order to dismantle them. "That the best you got!?"

Though confident the magic spells had thrown Kieran off course. Instead Kieran changed his momentum and put himself on a collision course with the wing of the monster and stabbed both blades through the soft membrane of the wing, the momentum continued to build up until Kieran was sent flying off of the wing of the monster that was now gonna crash into the capital.

"Oh no yah don't!" Kieran chucked one of his swords at the monster and with a loud boom it was pushed away from both him and the city.

"I'm coming Master hang on!" Hamsuke jumped up into the air and activated spells for fly and make hast. Kieran spread out his arms and legs spread eagle and let the hamster come to him. Planting both feet firmly on the hamster shaped projectile Kieran used her as a spring board to jump back through the air in the direction of the monster as it crashed into the nearby walls. With the forty minuet limit passed Kieran began with covering his blade with wind type Ki.

"So, Sexta Giga again? Alright." Koriander turned her attention to her summoned monsters.

"Take me to him." The Spider people worked together and created a path through the capital out of magic circles. Koriander jumped down onto the path and was shot forward by the speed enhancing magic circles until she reached the edge of the capital, at the same time the monster had prepared another volley of magic attacks to intercept Kieran. "Oh no you don't! Triplicate summon mid tier Netherghuls: Iron Guard!" Through another magic circle three more of the incubus, ogre and Death Knight combo made their presence known. "And just for good measure." Koriander used acid infusion to create the effect of causing the three to sweat poison.

Using demonic wings the three flew up to intercept the incoming volley's of magic attacks and the ridiculously high defense stacked on high defense stacked on high health stacked on high health regeneration from Koriander's buffing spell. The volley's of magic made contact with the three flying summons and exploded creating a smoke screen to protect Kieran from view. The monster blindly lashed out with it's tentacles creating magic circles but between the three flying tanks and Kieran having already grasped the water element thus enhancing his evasion skills that wasn't likely going to happen.

"Why don't I join in?" Thus Koriander raised a hand to the enemy together with her eight armed summons.

"Stop Time!" A pulse echoed from Koriander, several minuets passed as neither Kieran, Koriander or their opponent moved. But Kieran's attack continued to charge, wind, earth, water, fire, light and darkness elements blended together in a rainbow colored sword. When the time resumed, Kieran struck immediately.

"RAAAARRRGGHGH!" The Rainbow type attack rushed towards the frankenstein like monster, several magic barriers were erected to try and stop the attack, and each one of them shattered one at a time. The Monster tried to run away but found his path cut off by a magic barrier erected by one of the eight armed summons kept it from leaving.

"RRRAAARRRGGGHHH!" The monster died in the light of that attack that carved not only through the monster but also managed to dig a trench through the walls of the capital to the other side. Using teleportation magic Koriander moved to the other side and produced a Black hole spell to eat the attack. As the attack died down Kieran blew the smoke away with a sword swing, only to spot what looked like a cloud of darkness coming after him. "DAMN YOU! DDAAAAAMMMMNNNN YYYOOOOOUUUUUU!" It seemed that the spirit of that monster was intent on dragging Kieran down to hell with him. Kieran needed to remember to praise Koriander later for making something with such intense fighting spirit.

"Too little. Too late." Kieran entered into a state where he could see the weaknesses in the enemy magic again and slashed through that undead demon's weak point without hesitation with his blade covered in holy power. However as if sensing that danger that cloud of hatred and spite veered off course at the last moment and flew out of the capital. "That's a little odd now ain't it?" Kieran commented as he used his blade to scratch a itch that had appeared along his spine.

* * *

"Wha... What is this!?" Balloma's friendship with the Princess and the intelligence extracted from Succulent bore ripe fruit. Trapped in their seats before Mare and Aura was six individuals, the executive heads of Eight fingers. Trapped under the heal of Aura was the corpse of Cocodoll, his head crushed as an example to the others.

"Greetings Eight Fingers! Or should I say Six Fingers? After all two of you are already dead now." Aura explained beaming brightly as she stood on the end of the table where Eight Fingers conducted their meetings. "From now on all of you work for the Supreme Ones! So we're going to take you all back to our base so that we can thoroughly educate all of you!" Then Aura looked down at Mare who was standing on the floor. "Psst Mare. What did Mistress Balloma say to do with them once we get back to the base?"

"Uhh... One of Mistress Koriander's creation is suppose to take care of it." Mare replied while thinking about the subject. "As I understand it, Mr. Kyouhoukou, a Roach man, is suppose to dump his offspring down their throats, and then they're suppose to continuously eat away at their flesh while continuously healing them at the same time." Aura's face twisted in disgust at Mare's explanation, and likewise the faces of the remaining six of the eight executives was warped with horror.

* * *

The three siblings were gathered together with the royal family, the minions and the adventurer's were routing the last of the demons and several prisoners were taken hostage in the confusion.

"They aren't demonic in nature, and they don't look like summon monsters." Renner stated standing in front of the prisoners the adventurer's captured: A Dullahan, A Automaton, a Werewolf and a Arachne were tied around a large jug that contained a mass of black Slime. "Naturally we wanted a second opinion on this." Kieran took one look at the captive creatures and saw a string of jewelry wrapped around one of their foreheads.

"I recognize this." Kieran stated kneeling down. "It's called the Crown of Wisdom." Kieran recalled a similar artifact on the head of Nifirea that was used to render him brain dead during the incident with what's her face. At least that's what was made to look like, but Kieran couldn't sense magic from the artifacts. "If I'm right just a twist and..." Light returned to the eyes of the werewolf now that the effects of the 'brain washing' item had passed.

According to their stories, the five were inhabitants of various surrounding areas, the undead Dullahan came from the Khatze plains, the demihuman werewolf and Arachne was from the forest of tob, whereas the Automaton and the Black Slime were the forgotten experiments of some magic caster who had abandoned them in their lab. Once the five of them had their own minds again the question had become what to do with them, the kingdom doubted they could hold them against their wills, yet being relative innocents in these affairs they were hesitant to simply execute them. Balloma came up with the proposal to simply make them her vassals, after all for services rendered the three individuals were granted noble status and given a plot of land to do with what they will near E-Rantle. The nobles and citizens of the city were returned to the Royal family and a contingent of Red Cap Minions were left behind to clean out the last of the demons with the adventurers.

* * *

"So, have we completed our main objectives then?" The throne room looked nice, decorated to the tastes of the three siblings now that it was finished, kneeling before them was the top vassals of Nazarick.

"As per your instructions mistress, Six Arms has been wiped out and their corpses delivered to Demiurge for experimentation." Sebas explained with his fist on the ground.

"With two exceptions, all of the nobles of the Re-Estize kingdom have been converted into Brain Eaters: Marquis Raeven and Marquis Boullope." Demiurge explained his tone that of someone who had interpreted the two fish who had gotten away as some unforgivable sin.

"I take it that they were among those who choose not to flee the capital then?" Balloma asked looking up in the air. "Hmm. Acceptable. We'll simply decide what we should do with those too later on." Now that Demiurge had resumed bowing Balloma turned her attention to the two Drow who had rose in his place. "Aura, what about the other members of Eight Fingers?"

"Mare took em all down to the Cockroach man for re-education boss lady except for the two you mentioned!" Aura declared happily.

"So the assassinations, smuggling, larceny, drug trade, banking, and gambling divisions are all under our control now? And the Slave Trafficking and Security divisions have both been wiped out?" Balloma asked for clarity's sake if nothing else.

"Aha. After the bug man is done we'll send them back to the kingdom and have them restructure the six divisions according to your instructions!" Aura explained beaming brightly at a job well done.

"It would have gone smoother if you hadn't dropped that big ugly monster on us at the final hour." Kieran stated glaring at his sister angrily.

"I concur. In fact it was going so smoothly that you two nearly wiped out all the demons before we had a chance to finish with the conversion of the nobles into Brain Eaters, and then we would have to explain to the king why a brain eating monster had her tentacles all over all of his underlings." Kieran rolling his eyes as he turned his attention to Demiurge.

"Oi Demiurge, these two might not have a problem with how you did things over there but I do." Kieran growled causing a chill to go up the spine of Demiurge.

"Master Kieran? What is the matter?" Demiurge asked a fearful premonition upon him.

"Why'd you name the leader of the demon Army after that ass pain former Overlord Jaldabaoth?" Kieran asked to the shock of those present.

"I can assure you that I did no such thing." After all, Demiurge knew the tale of that hateful man better then most others.

"Then who gave that demon that name?" Kieran asked cocking a brow suspiciously.

"They named themselves sir." Demiurge explained as a fearful premonition came over them.

The story of Ainz Ooal Gown. The bed time story told to them by their grandmother, of the man that she married and the monster that murdered her father. Once there was a tower of darkness, filled to the brim with the most savage of creatures the world has ever known, controlled by a evil Overlord named Jaldabaoth. One day a group of nine heroes gathered together: The halfling Melvin Underbelly a sniper of unrivaled aim. The Paladin Sir William The Black, a warrior of unrivaled faith and dedication to destroying all evil and his Fiance Velvet, Rose's very own sister. Oberon Greenhaze the Elf King. Goldo Golderson the Dwarf King. Jewel a thief of the Rhuborian deserts. Kahn a warrior giant of the Rhuborian sands. The White Wizard Gandolf and father to Rose and Velvet. And the Strongest among them the great Momonga. Together they became known as Nine's Own Goals, they fought through the territory under the control of the Overlord, clashing against the Demonic, the Undead and the Damned. They made it to the top of the tower where that man's throne room was located. Momonga sacrificed himself to drag the Overlord out through a window and cause them both to fall to their death's. But neither had died. The Overlord stole the body of the wizard with a dark spell. Momonga's broken body was collected by the minions while his one time colleagues stripped the tower of everything remotely of value. While his so called friends had left him to die his oldest and most hated enemies had saved his life and declared him their new overlord, mocking giving him a corruption of the name of the group he once served with: Ainz Ooal Gown. In the meantime, the old Overlord in the wizard's body corrupted each of his one time allies sinking them into the darkest depths of corruption, and their one time ace was reduced to a assassin as he hunted down and wiped out each individual that he once called friend. With each death a sacrificed in Jaldabaoth's dark ritual was completed as the abyss drew closer and closer, culminating in the death of the architect of the mad scheme. Then the portal to the land of the dead was cracked wide open. Ainz Stormed through and conquered the lands of the abyss, fighting it's forgotten god whose name was banished from history and claiming it's power for his own. With the death of the god of the Abyss the portals that were being sustained by his will collapsed. Hence the name of the most hated being by those who are loyal to the one true Overlord, Ainz Ooal Gown.

"How. Did. This. Happen!?" Balloma asked narrowing a glare angrily at Demiurge.

"We employed a number of demonic mercenaries that we hired using our research into the ritual first used to open the Abyss." Demiurge stated as he was legitimately taken back by Balloma's glare. "Speaking logically, if when one dies they go to the Abyss, then that means that is also where Jaldabaoth would have gone after he died, especially if he was one of the ones sacrificed to bridge the gap." Then a Body snatcher was turned loose in a realm full of the most savage, brutal and powerful creatures in the nine realms.

"Huu... Crap."

* * *

 **Review Section** :

rmarcano321: Thank you for saying so, twice over. Min-maxing efforts: if say a goblin is stronger than a human then what happens when that goblin is turned into a undead that is also stronger than a human and possessed by a demon that is also stronger than a human. Nether Ghul is the name Koriander picked as the umbrella term for her custom made monsters. Hmm... Not really.

Chronos0305: Patience.


	32. Chapter 32

**Author's Note** : Nothing to say right now, for the record, Overlords lost the poll. Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy!

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Chapter 32: The Great Spell Caster

This place was chief among the magical research institutes of the Baharuth empire. Built like a fortress and patrolled by mages riding on the back of Hippogriffs the insides of this library was filled with millions of tomes of magics from across the lands and research notes into various different forms of magic. The quote on quote owner of this fortress walked inside as he looked at the fruits of his apprentices work, various humanoid golems were using hoes to carve trenches in the dirt and plant crops to be nurtured by the sunlight coming in through the glass ceiling. To note this however was little more then telling Fluder Paradyne the obvious. After all Fluder, when asked to find a way of freeing up the citizens of the Baharuth empire who were otherwise dedicating their time to farm work for the army, golems had been the first thing that he had thought of. However golems were quite difficult to mass produce, even with the easiest materials to work with stone and wood the maintenance and manufacturing cost on them was enormous, on account of the fact that building them required that they shape every individual piece of their bodies perfectly and precisely followed up by enchanting them with a third tier spell, then whenever a part broke down, say when they were working the fields twenty four hours a day, a new precisely manufactured part needed to be put in. So in other words they had yet to find a effective means of mass producing them and once they had they still didn't have the means by which to maintain the cost of doing so.

It was for this very reason why Fluder had switched his line of research over into the undead, creatures that would keep working no matter how badly their bodies were damaged certainly kept the manufacturing cost down, and there was no shortage of corpses to work with either thanks to the annual wars. But their new masters, the Shining Justice, had demanded that he return to his original line of research, in regards to the farm that is, which led Fluder to the subject of his current business trip.

Going into the dungeon of this fortress Fluder encountered a being chained up like a dog at one of the main support pillars of this place, the idea being that if it did break free it would drop this whole place on top of it. It was massive, made mostly of bone, and covered in thick armor plating, a Death Knight. It's injuries were healed thanks to all the poison they had fed it, it took Fluder plus twenty of his apprentices continuously firing fire ball at this thing for three hours from the safety of the sky to bring it down to the point where they could chain it up like this. Since it was raised back to perfect health Fluder had been experimenting on it looking for a way to take control over it.

"Raise Mid Tier undead." Casting a spell from his hand, a layer of green magic coated the undead monster, before shattering like glass. The hateful monster took offence to that and made a effort to get up with enough force that dust was shaken loose from the support column that it had been chained to. "Another failure." Fluder commented as he received the hollow praise of his subordinates and reentered the library.

When the Shining Justice did come and take over the empire in a matter of hours Fluder was concerned that they would employ the same brainwashing method on him that they used to place the army under their control. However because they valued his mind they kept him around, and to his disappointment he learned that they either possessed no more power then what he did or simply didn't care to share it. All that had changed was the direction and purposes of Fluder's research.

"I would like some time by myself in my room." Fluder stated sounding slightly depressed, though he hid it well.

After all, Fluder had long ago accepted the fact that he had reached his peak, not that he had run out of things he could learn, merely that he had reached the limit of things that he could learn. After all short of a miracle Fluder had researched every phenomena within his reach and Ever since Fluder was young and he met his first magic caster he had wanted to see the very origins of magic itself, the well spring from which all the power came from. That is what he had dreamed of seeing more than anything for as long as he could remember. Towards that end Fluder worked hard to become the top spell caster in the empire, he used that influence to gather magics from the four corners of the world, he used magic to extend his natural life span by hundreds of years. And he knew that it would never be enough. Lamenting his lot in life, Fluder went to his room to rest his weary bones and closed the door behind him.

"If it isn't the stench of failure and stale beer." Turning to his bed, Fluder saw a rather attractive looking young woman sitting on his bed.

Even Fluder wasn't above the occasional tryst of the course of his long life, many of his female apprentices had hoped to harness his natural talent into a child of their own. Fluder himself wasn't opposed, they made for useful experimental material. That said, he didn't know this woman. "Who are you?" Fluder asked looking at the woman suspiciously.

"I understand you're confused, so allow me to put this into perspective for you." The woman on the bed stated as she took the ring on her finger off. The entire room was suddenly swallowed with bright white light. It took Fluder a few seconds to realize that it was magic, and his talent to see it. It took him another few seconds to realize that it was more magic then what he and every spell caster in the entire kingdom could produce put together. It took him slightly less time to realize where this magic was coming from. Then as quickly as it had appeared the magic disappeared again, the woman on the bed securing her ring back into place. "Hello I am Rose nice to meet you." Rose explained oozing the elegance that she was known for. "Would you like to tell me your name now?"

"I AM YOUR HUMBLE SERVANT MILADY! IF YOU ARE NOT THE GOD I HAVE PRAYED TO ALL ME LIFE THEN I HEREBY RENOUNCE ALL FAITH IN THEM FOR I HAVE WITNESSED A TRUE DIVINE BEING APPEAR BEFORE ME!" Fluder shouted loudly dropping to his hands and knees in a act of submission, the image of Rose's vast power still fresh in his mind.

"Very well Fluder, if you don't mind sitting up for us to talk we can begin." Immediately Fluder sat in a cross legged position. Not what Rose was going for but it would work for now. "As I understand it, your Baharuth empire launches a yearly war with it's neighbors Re-Estize yes?" Fluder nodded his head excitedly hoping to please his new lord and master. "But the ideal window for that has already come and past and yet no war has been launched, why is that?"

"Baharuth is being cautious about the invasion of the Kingdom given the demonic invasion." Fluder stated without hesitation. "The Shining Justice in particular is concerned about the one called 'Jaldabaoth.'"

"Yes. I suppose they would be concerned about a former Overlord making his presence on the continent known." Rose stated as she rubbed her chin. "Very well, what will it take for the Shining Justice to discard it's concern and proceed with a full scale attack on the Re-Estize Kingdom?"

"Jaldabaoth must be defeated preferably by them so that he can be executed by the masses or made into one of their converted minions." Fluder replied having come to that conclusion the moment the dust had settled in the Re-Estize Kingdom.

"Is that all?" Rose asked cocking her brow with the implication that this was some trivial matter. "Very well, next question. What has the Shining Justice been getting you to do for them?"

* * *

In front of the palace of the Baharuth empire, a massive demon with a flaming skull for a head was tied up bruised, bloodied and Burnt from magical artillery fire.

"People of the Baharuth Empire!"

A Shining Justice priest was addressing the crowd and droned on for a while on how at great personal cost they had defeated the demon who had come to claim the Empire for himself fresh off of his defeat at the Re-Estize capital. The weakened demon was defeated at the cost of a hundred of the Shining Justice's finest and was now brought before them in chains, or so the priest claimed. Zesshi after all had no intentions of throwing her lot in with these people, even if they were using her and the old man as little boosters to their magical pony's raw power to her disappointment their ranks were full of weaklings. But then again this was a force that preferred to convert their enemy as oppose to killing it. Case in point.

"Witness now as this infidel is brought into the Glorious Light of the Shining Justice!" One of the unicorns let loose with their Golden light and converted the demon into it's angelic equivalent, a seraphim arc angel much to the cheers of the crowd. "Now with your help, we shall travel to the hole to the abyss that this abomination emerged from and purge his kind from existence once and for all!"

The crowd cheered the Shining Justice on, the Golden's ignorance inducing bliss egging them on, Zesshi could only shrug her shoulders and wondered if the individuals who chased this thing into their midst would be more interesting.

* * *

"'Your deliberate mismanagement of your kingdom has opened a portal to hell and doomed us all.'" A messenger read from a scroll in front of the King of Re-Estize. "'We will be seizing the affected lands in question, and you will contribute your forces to it's closing.'"

"So, in other words the Empire finally means to finish us off." King Ramposa stated scratching at his chin.

How the royal court had changed since the demonic invasion, for the first time that the king could ever remember his court was whole, the royal and noble factions dissolved and merged together after the demonic disturbance created a 'change in priorities.' Then there was the new comer, a foreigner carrying with her potions of potency he's never seen before and warriors of myth and nightmare.

"They mean to finish you off this time, they may even be justified." Balloma stated prompting some of the nobles to become angry. "A portal into the abyss has opened somewhere we still don't know where. And even if we do find it the previous wars with the empire does not inspire confidence in your ability to either hold them off or close it."

"But you can?" King Ramposa asked cocking a brow suspiciously.

"Koriander's already on it. We've gotten adventurers to help with the search I wouldn't worry about it. How much time do you need to get your army ready for battle?" Balloma asked dismissively.

"Month's I'm afraid but the empire..."

"Has already mobilized their troops." Balloma stated as two browns carried in a chest plate with the crest of the empire and dried blood on it. "We got this from one of the villages they visited, approximately sixty thousand troops, roughly two thirds of their collective military power." That got the nobles disturbed. "So I repeat, how long will it take before your armies are in any fit shape for a fight?"

"Ignoring the rest of these people, I have my own army of properly trained soldiers, about forty thousand strong." Marquis Boullope stated, as if declaring that he was more then capable of taking on the whole of those present.

"I have my own group of competent individuals at my command." Marquis Raeven stated and he seemed to be the last.

"If that's everyone then we better make preparations. My territory is the closest to the empire, I trust my associate Brain has already explained his training methods?" Balloma asked turning her attention to Gazef Strongoff.

"Continuously summon monsters, buff warriors with several spells and have them kill the creature in question, heal any damage done using magic. Grinding I think is what he called it." Gazef stated as he crossed his arms in thought. "Based on his increase in power, I do recommend it, and it will give us a idea of what your forces are capable of."

"How long do you think it would take them to get battle ready?" Balloma asked cocking a brow suspiciously.

"Usually we take peasant levies, stuff them into suits of armor, give them a few weapons and deploy them on the field of battle."

"Riiight." Balloma replied rolling her eyes. "I have a few plans to buy for time, if any of you want to contribute your forces you're welcome, if any of you want to send in some peasants to train with us I will make the arrangements to have your lands food stuff's restocked."

* * *

Various nobles made a show out of assembling together a large contingent of troops, they were in the fall months and nearing the winter, the harvest season had already passed. The peasants in crude armor were shocked when they bore witness to walking trees with veins of electric blue sap, each of them producing a variety of unpleasant creatures. Huge hulking brutes with boar skulls for faces and giant two sided ax's, diminutive archers with rat heads, tall and lanky spell casters with the antlers of a Dear. Nightmarish creatures spawned of nightmarish creatures.

"What the..." The Dear Skulls raised their staffs and produced several layers of magic to coat the men's bodies, magic entered their hearts and banished their fear, the Boar Skulls stepped forward and readied their ax's to bisect the group.

* * *

Zesshi surveyed the empty fields as the Baharuth's army marched along the plains, it would be days before they would arrive at the first of Re-Estize cities for them to conquer, some backwater adventurer hole called E-Rantle.

"This portal to the Abyss had better be something good." Suddenly a arrow wizzed past Zesshi's head, turning her head around she saw one of her fellow soldiers downed with a arrow in his head. Not only that arrows were raining down with impunity on the forces of the Shining Justice, not that they affected her, merely bouncing off of magically reinforced flesh as they always did. "Now how is that happening?" Zesshi looked through a telescope, elven enhanced eyes and magic glass revealed arrows riding on wind magic coming out of the newly formed canyon when that vampire died. With their enemy attacking them from below the likely hood they could hit them at this distance was rather low, even with magic. "Raise your shields and block as many of the arrows as you possibly can." Zesshi stated putting her telescope down. "Divert the men into the Forest of Tob, we'll use the greenery as cover."

* * *

Inside of the canyon, hunters from the various villages under Balloma's control were receiving the 'wind arrow' buff from the greens enhanced the distance the arrows could fly dramatically, raising up high into the air, and crashing down at terminal velocity. There were casualties even after the enemy raised the shields into the air.

"Halt the arrow fire for now. We'll resume once they lower their shields again." Balloma stated handing her own telescope to the commander that Marquis Raeven had brought over from his side.

They were only a dozen or so strong yes, only able to pick off a few hundred soldiers using arrow based martial arts, but they had created the impression of a select contingent of elite soldiers, pacing their shots would further imply that. Therefore they would want to avoid getting into the range of the lion's share of their forces hence their divergence into the great forest, and into the next stage of their plan.

"Where are they going?" The Strategist asked looking through the telescope.

"They have likely decided to diverge into the Forest of Tob, the fact that they will get to restock supplies will only be a added bonus." Saying that, one of the Minions held up a communication type magic Mirror for Balloma, depicting the familiar form of Enri. "Have you completed my tasks?" Balloma asked cocking a brow in mild interest.

"Yes, mistress. But if I may ask..." Enri replied a heavy look on her features.

"The Minions will take you to Nazarick, you and your people will be able to stay there until we chase the empire out of Carne village. It won't be very long." Balloma stated with a shrug of her shoulders.

* * *

The village next to the forest was abandoned, Zesshi's unicorn almost looked disappointed that it wouldn't have anymore people to turn into mindless drones to cater to it's every whimsical demand, which was rather suspicious on account of how heavily fortified it was, and how much food and medicine was left behind.

"Check the food for poison before anyone eats it." Zesshi instructed prompting several of the soldiers to nod their heads.

But the food wasn't poisoned, no this trap was much more sinister then that. It had been altered, days had passed before anyone had realized that half of their soldiers were sick even though only a eighth of their forces ate from the village. Treatment was harsh, and eventually culminated in a massive open pit fire with still screaming men inside.

"So they magic their arrows to strike far and fast, and they alter their own food just to kill us." Zesshi noted the beginnings of a grin forming on her face. "They're smart I'll give them that much." E-Rantle was still days away, this village would make a good temporary base, and a large amount of their forces were dead, so the time had come where they call in the reinforcements.

* * *

Balloma had arranged for a patio set to be brought to the top of one of the walls on E-Rantle, the snow had already started falling, the empire missed their opportunity to invade and they hadn't even triggered all their roadblocks yet. By the time winter was over there would be more.

"I apologize on behalf of my foolish homeland for doubting you lady Balloma." Gazef stated bowing to Balloma.

"Don't apologize it's a sign of weakness. How are the soldiers training coming along?" Balloma asked as she crunched tomato pasted potato peels.

"As you've predicted, they've grown, to use terms that you might be familiar with, they're roughly on par with gold ranked adventurer's." Gazef explained as he pointed down to the men who were contending themselves with the Boar Skulls outside of the walls of the fortress. "Assuming that they haven't been similarly trying to improve their own forces, then that means that they will be able to beat the empire back this year."

"Don't be so naive." Balloma stated putting a folder down on the table, revealing the sketch of a woman with half white hair and half black. "It will take more then some gold plates to beat back the refugees of the Slane Theocracy."

"So have you made plans, like those traps you set for the empire?" Gazef asked cocking his brow suspiciously. "Mr. Stronoff, I and my siblings have been in your country for six month's: we have been doing nothing but prepare for this war."

* * *

 **Review Section** :

rmarcano321: Thank you for saying so. That he is, unfortunately he's also a cockroach so he's not very popular among it's people. Indeed. Balloma merely kept the divisions that would be most useful: they have minions so slave labor and a army of mercenary thugs are redundant. Minimal: good plot bad game. Hmm... Kieran. Khajit. No not really. Min-Maxing efforts.


	33. Chapter 33

**Author's Note** : So Yeah, this story is getting a little hard for me to write right now too. So my current plan is to break for a little while after I finish this story arc and then resume, it worked wonders for me last time.

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Chapter 33: Evolving Monsters

Three month's, three month's until the snow had passed enough for them to mobilize the troops again. The raging blizzards had delayed them severely, otherwise they would have simply made use of the empire's Hypogriff's or the new hybrid they had been working on. Now however the blizzards had rescinded at last and the armies of the empire were ready to move on once more, and so they had made plans to enter the Great Forest of Tob.

"This Golden might be able to bind these men to my will but it can't fill their bellies." Zesshi stated with a sigh while she picked at her ear. "Alright, get ready to move out, we're already three month's behind on this invasion."

At the lizard man village, a winged figure with pure white scales came down panting quite a bit. The wing span was roughly that of a hang glider, and the main body was a dense mass of coiled muscular flesh. That said, the creature was receiving a hero's welcome by the other lizard men.

"Gaze. Upon. The. Great. Crusch. Lulu. Lizard. Men." Cocytus instructed grandly gesturing to the new comer with his halberd. "She. Is. The. First. Of. Many. Of. You. To. Succeed. In. The. Process. Of. Evolving. Into. The. Next. Form. Of. Lizard. Men. Through. The. Training. Provided. By. The. Overlords." Cocytus stated directing the group's attention to the white winged former lizard woman.

Indeed, Crush was one of the many Lizard people made to participate in the helish training of continuously summoning and buffing monsters in order to fight against a endless supply of monsters. During this time, several changes occurred in her body: firstly, repeatedly using magic to the point of exhaustion had slowly expanded her magic capacity, like a muscle that had been exercised to it's limit. Secondly, after consuming a concoction made from breaking down Frost Pain, Crush absorbed the draconic essence within and evolved into this winged form. After that the former Red Eye chief turned undead monster who called itself 'Cryos' took her to the snowy Khatze plains and put her through intensive training. Together they had manipulated the weather and produced a stream of blizzard's to last them for months.

" _Huu. What is with this physical exertion? Using fly would be much better then flapping my wings this hard._ " Crush complained in her head.

"Through. Evolution. She. Has. Been. Transformed. Into. A. Superior. Creature. Known. As. A. Dragon. Newt. With. Greater. Magical. And. Physical. Abilities! With. Time. She. Will. Have. Obtained. Even. Greater. Power. With. Which. To. Serve. Our. Masters. And. So. Shall. Her. Descendants!" Crusch suddenly felt the lustful eyes of the tribes numerous males on her. Her newly acquired status as most powerful in the village came with a powerful curse it would seem. "In. Do. Time. An. Expedition. Will. Be. Launched. Into. The. Mountains. To. Hunt. The. Frost. Dragons. We. Shall. Take. Their. Essence. And. Evolve. Those. Who. Are. Worthy. Into. New. More. Powerful. Forms. Suitable. As. Soldiers. In. Our. Master's. Armies! So. Train. Hard! For. Only. The. Worthy. Will. Be. Selected. To. Join. The. Expedition!" To the Speech Cocytus has given the Lizard Men cheered as they set to work. Monk's, Swordsmen, Archers, Summoners, all of them received buff's as they loosed violence upon the summoned Boar Skull's in the area with great enthusiasm.

The explanation they received is that creatures normally accumulate life force and slowly mutate into more powerful creatures, mutations that they pass down to their descendants. Thus when they've acquired enough power applying specific stimulus will allow them to reach the next stage. What had happened here was that they skipped several generations, and now Crusch likely won't birth another Lizard Man ever again, not that she had before.

" _Is becoming a Dragon Newt so spectacular?_ " Crusch asked looking at the lizard men and their enthusiasm.

"I only wish I could join you." Zaryusu stated as he walked up to Crusch. "But the last of the essence from Frost Pain has already been used up."

"Sorry Zaryusu: because of me your weapon was destroyed." Crusch stated looking rather dejected.

"Shouldn't I apologize to you? After all now that you've evolved you'll doubtlessly be drafted into those people's army. Well you aren't the only one whose been under going changes around here." Zaryusu directed his attention to a flame that had been dancing with a human sword's man.

A huge bear like body struck with a punch engulfed in flame and swiped with a long snake like tail tipped in flame. The Sword's man danced around the blows able to sense their in coming strikes instinctively and strike back with blows enhanced with numerous magics.

"Six Fold Slash of Light: Fire!" The Rat like creature swung her tail at the Sword's man producing six streaks of fire and each of them were blocked through the sword's man's own techniques.

"That's enough, I've confirmed your growth with my own blade." Brain stated putting his blade away. "You've definitely grown in power and mana Hamsuke, your mastery of your new racial skills 'Fire Fist' and 'Explode Armor' are Proof of that." No, Fire Fist and Explode armor are not racial traits of a hamster like Hamsuke, rather it is the racial trait of a Fire Rat like the newly evolved Hamsuke. Unlike with the Lizard men who required draconic essence to evolve, this fellow only needs Red life force in large amounts, so for the past three month's she's been doing nothing but slaughter Fire Roaches. "You've definitely improved upon your striking ability, a fact I attribute to a combination of my training and your luck enhancing magic." Brain stated hand on chin as he looked his pupil up and down and noting the lack of magic sigils. "But on the subject of that, it looks like your transformation wiped them out." It was a good opportunity to confirm the hamster had in fact learned the Martial Arts he was teaching her, buffs such as Strengthen Body, Flow Acceleration and Field as well as sword techniques using her tail as a substitute such as God Slash and Sixfold Slash of light. "Now that you're essentially a blank canvas again that woman will no doubt want to gift you with new magic spells anyway."

As if he triggered some kind of pre programmed suggestion Hamsuke suddenly drifted into a lifeless zombie like state.

"I have to go get new magic. I have to become a worthy mount for my master." Saying that the Hamster drifted lifelessly towards the summoning circle at the center of the Lizard Man town.

"Hey you guys." Brain stated to the confused Lizard Men in Training. "Don't ever piss those people off." Brain was still haunted by the sight of the revived members of Six Arms, strung up like pigs being drained of their blood and circulating it with numerous Dwelf Soldiers, including Brain. So now he had their Martial arts, Monk, Sword Dancer, Fencer, Knight and Swashbuckler Job classes. "Cut me a break already, how many monsters do you intend to have me train?" Brain complained with his hands on his hips. "Forget it." Turning around, Brain faced the group of Lizard men Warriors who were on break from fighting Skull Boars. "You Guys have been practicing your Martial arts right? Show me what you've got!"

* * *

The teleportation type magic circle activate and from it spawned a freshly trained Frost Dragon Newt in one of Koriander's magic cloaks.

"Is this one of the creatures you brought back from the old World?" Renner asked as she stood next to Koriander who was standing next to the newly evolved Hamsuke. "Well, Dragon Newts are more common over there, but this lady is from your neck of the woods." Koriander stated gesturing to Crusch. "Still this lady and one of my Netherghul's are the ones to thank for that snow storm that grounded the Empire's forces in and around Carne Village. Crusch this is Renner, Renner Crusch."

"Pleasure."

"Same."

"Crusch here will be using wind magic to suppress the enemy again during the next incursion." Koriander stated casually much to the exasperation of Crusch. "Because of this, we're going to have her work on expanding her Mana pool and Physical strength using physical boost. It should get her wings in shape in no time." Crusch suddenly had a huge weight dropped on her shoulders. "Obviously she'll be fighting monsters too to work on expanding her powers as well." The weight on Crusch's shoulders grew so much she had been brought to her knees.

"Isn't that quite dangerous?" Renner asked concern on her features. "Well... if she dies I'll just turn her into one of my Nethergul's, possession by a Overeating should give her magic powers a boost, and she should qualify for wendigo and elder lich races too." With these terrifying subjects discussed so casually in front of her, Crusch flew over the training grounds and with tears in eyes started raining icicle blades down on the summoned creatures below. "Good, I was worried we'd have to pretend she died of shock there for a second." Koriander stated looking up in the air at the Frost Dragon Newt. "How's it doing on your end?"

"OOOORAAAHH!" At once Climb chopped down on a wooden log that was sat in front of him, a pivotal part of his training, but why? Because what he was using to chop wood was not a ax or a sword, but rather a single sheet of paper.

"Enthusiasm is fine, but remember what you need to master void cutter is control." Sebas explained his hands behind his back as he looked down at Climb. "By honing the slashes of your blows to absolute perfection it is possible to even cut the air, creating a absolute kill zone that will eliminate anything it comes into contact with."

A useful technique to be sure, and after consulting with Gazef he managed to learn Focus Battle Aura after killing several Skull Boars. When that Martial art combined with his developing Holy aura it transformed into Focus Battle Aura Holy and gifts his weapons with the holy element. Thus no longer needing to fear another demon invasion, Climb now needed a absolute kill technique for everything else, and that was what he was working on now.

"I still need more training." Climb noted as he swung his 'blade' down.

"Still your growth is impressive." Gazef noted while he rubbed his chin with one of his hands.

"The training methods of your people really are terrifying." Gazef noted while he turned his attention to a group of buffed knights that had ganged up on a skull boar. "In more ways than one. I need to converse with your mistress on the progress of the enemy." Saying that Gazef entered the fortress.

Balloma was reading various reports on a number of topics, provisions, troop training progress, as well as reports on the incoming armies of the Baharuth Empire, Shining Justice and former Slane Theocracy. Without even looking away Balloma addressed the man who had come to see her.

"I told you before, recklessly using surveillance magic is dangerous." Balloma stated in a impatient tone of voice. "Do you want this entire room to explode on us!?"

"You've explained that already. So is there another way of tracking their position?" Gazef asked crossing his arms. Suddenly a screech had gone through the air, looking out through a telescope mounted on a window Balloma saw a red flare going through the air on the other side of the Great Forest of Tob.

"They're there." Balloma went over to a map on the wall and removed a red flag pin.

"How can you possible know that?" Gazef asked looking confused.

"We designed our traps to set off explosive signals when someone trips them." Balloma stated as she sat back down and resumed her reading.

"Hmm. I should post someone on the walls to watch the forest." Gazef stated as he looked at the Horizon, before something clicked in his head. "Traps?"

* * *

Inside of the Great Forest of Tob, a group of Empire Soldiers on horseback were running away, a boulder was chasing after them down the narrow path and they were not fond of being crushed. Unfortunately though, they only ended up choosing another method of death, as instead they ran directly into a near invisible razor wire that took their heads off.

"It seems that the enemy as been quite thoroughly prepared." Zesshi noted as a few horses with their headless riders still attached to their saddles rode back into the village. "I doubt people under the effects of the Golden would be able to effectively find and disable those traps. And with that explosive we have to assume that they can knock fliers out of the sky." In other words they needed individuals that were not within the purview of the empire's forces to find and disable those traps so that they can safely traverse the forest.

"One of our nobles can hire some workers to go in and find all the traps." Fluder stated as he stroked his beard.

"Why are you here?" Zesshi asked looking at Fluder suspiciously.

"I received reports that the blizzards that were affecting you might have been magical so I was hoping I could study them." Fluder stated shrugging his shoulders. "But I see now they've subsided, I'll tell the emperor." Fluder stated as he used fly to take off into the air, leaving behind a suspicious Zesshi.

"Keep an eye on him." Zesshi stated as she watched Fluder fly away.

Fluder retreated to his underground laboratory where he had been experimenting on the Undead, the golden couldn't come down here without ruining his experiments and the concentrated negative energy of the Death Knight would temporarily snap anyone effected out of it. Confident that he had no spies from the Shining Justice Fluder used a message spell to relay the information concerning the Empire's counter measures to the Kingdom.

* * *

"Hmm. We just received a Message." Balloma stated as what appeared to be a personal vanity started flashing at her.

"From who?" Gazef asked looking confused.

"Our spy in the empire." Balloma waved her hand over the mirror and revealed a written message. "'Golden retreating in Forest of Tob, Workers being sent in for traps.'"

"'Golden'?" Gazef asked looking confused.

"Crowd pacification magic, makes you stupid and compliant, especially effective against monsters with negative Karma though it works just as well on humans." Balloma explained as she crossed her arms. "If they're sending people to disable the traps then they'll have to retract the Golden so that their agents will be smart enough to do it." Balloma noted while she left her office. "Koriander! Are you done Torturing that rat yet!?"

* * *

A team was being assembled to counter the agents that the Shining Justice was assembling to counteract them: Hamsuke former Wise King of the Forest and Guide for the strike team around her old territory, Brain Unglas Body Guard, and Blade the head of the Green Minions who set the traps in the forest.

"Fighting in this narrow area will be inconvenient, we should try to heard them to the Lizard Men Village, since after that last fireworks they should be getting ready to evacuate."

* * *

Count Femel had succeeded in his assigned task of assembling together a few adventurer groups: Green Leaf led by a veteran former adventurer Parpatra Ogrion who once slayed a dragon and made armor and weapons out of his Scales and Fangs. Second was Heavy Masher, a group of fourteen individuals who was led by the third place contender in the Kingdom's warrior captain tournament Gringham. The third Team was a 'Team of One' Tenmu, a powerful warrior from the Slane Theocracy named Erya Uzruth accompanied by a few Elven Slaves. And finally a effective unit of four individuals with diverse skill sets known as Foresight and led by Hekkeran Termite. With that the leaders of the four teams were gathered in front of the count.

"The Kingdom has stuffed the Great Forest of Tob full of booby traps, and it seems that they've managed to acquire some spectacular archers to pick off our forces at a distance. Going through the forest is our only viable route of transport and for that we need people to go inside and remove the traps." The Count explained as he removed several pouches of gold.

"These are your down payments, should you make it back without dying horribly then you will receive the bulk of your payment." It wasn't satisfactory for them, but considering the fact that work had been slow lately ever since those Shining Justice goons showed up and started ruining everything for them then jobs like these were the best that they could hope for.

"Huu. Looks like I'm going to end up selling that perfume that mom got for me." The shortest of the four members of Foresight sighed while she looked down at the bottle of purple liquid in question.

"Why are your parents buying things like perfume for you anyway Arche?" A rather large priest in the group asked looking down at his shorter companion. "I thought you guys were dirt broke?"

"Try telling that to a family of nobles Roberdyke." Arche stated slouching as she walked.

"I thought you were stripped of noble status?" A Half elf archer with pointed ears asked looking down at Arche.

"We were Imina!" Arche complained in half shout.

"Enough! We need to focus on what we're going to for the job." The leader Hekkeran stated in a tone of firm authority.

The four teams gathered outside of the forest in a village called Carne to discuss the matter in question.

"Well... personally speaking I have no interest in traps. I was told that if I joined I would get a chance to fight with the Kingdom's warrior captain Gazef Stronoff." Erya stated leaning back in his chair and shrugging his shoulders.

"We have many a great thief in our group, if we spread ourselves wide we shalt cover a wide area. Our concern is if any of don't have people who can use the healing magics." Gringham stated as he rubbed his chin while going through the personnel in his mind.

"Well my slaves know healing magic too not that I intend to share with the lot of you." Erya stated shrugging his hands.

"Our Arche and Roberdyke knows healing magic." Hekkeran stated his hand in the air. "What about you old man?"

"We've got a cleric too, so you'd don't need to worry about us." Parpatra stated laughing coyly.

"Now that that has been settled we need to work on division of labor." Gringham stated as he opened up a map.

As leader of such a large group of individuals The Man in the Beetle Like Armor Gringham was most excellent in group management, so letting him take the lead on the matter of dividing up the labor was the most wise decision. "The job before us can be divided up into three tasks: Disarming of traps, fighting monsters, healing the injured." Gingham stated as he scratched his chin. "All four of our groups of rather nicely balanced with rogues, warriors and healers. The main question here is the matter of how much work should be gifted to each group." The more traps that each group disarmed the more they would be paid.

"Now Erya, again you have no interest in disarming the most traps yes?" Gringham asked looking to the slave owner among the gathered who casually nodded. "Then I am sorry but I will be taking advantage of you as a warrior and place you into the area deepest into the forest where the most dangerous monsters are likely to lay." Erya smiled when he heard that. "My Heavy Masher that has the most members will work to cover the widest area, now Parpatra if I know your reputation you'll want the area closest to the village yes?" The old man nodded his head. "That just leaves your Foresight Hekkeran. Would you prefer a low danger area or a high one?"

"One of our members is having financial troubles, if it's all the same to you we'd like a area that would be quite profitable." Hekkeran stated as he tapped his fingers.

"It's hard to tell at a glance where the traps are located, if we study the area full of traps that were already triggered then we'd have a good point of reference to work with. If our opponents were overly cautious then they likely devised a method of marking each trap as inconspicuously as possible, look for different colored earth, trees stripped of bark, markers hidden in bushes, snapped tree branches." Like that the four groups of adventurers discussed the various ways that the Kingdom had devised to kill the soldiers of the empire all the while an invisible diminutive creature was looking down on them from above.

* * *

At the Beta Nazarick, a group consisting of Brain, Hamsuke and a large number of Green Minions were gathered around a crystal mirror being operated by a Blue Minion and looking through the eyes of that invisible creature.

"Do you recognize them teacher?" Hamsuke asked as she stood behind Brain.

"The little short one in beetle armor is named Gringham, we fought once already and I beat him. But according to the rumor mill..." Brain had the Blue Minion working the mirror zoom in on Erya. "This guy is named Erya Uzruth, he's suppose to be in mine and Gazeff's league, while the old man is a veteran named Parpatra with a ton of experience. Both of them should know some impressive martial arts." Brain explained as he scratched his chin.

"What about the fourth team?" Hamsuke asked tilting the side of her head. "A unknown. Could just be a pack of nobodies, could be a elite unit pretending to be a pack of nobodies. Either way we know where the lot of them are going to be. That slave owner is going to come right at us, you can wipe out that large group, take some greens with you, make sure none of them escape. Then we will discuss the remaining two groups."

Hamsuke excitedly nodded her head before stepping outside.

"Mediocre Twin Magic Quick March!"

Three of the magic symbols on Hamsuke's body was activated as a low tier spell was turned into a mid tier one and was cast twice over covering Hamsuke with two layers of magic, she then took off through the forest using that dramatically enhanced speed.

* * *

 **Review Section** :

rmarcano321: Me too. That she is. Well, I gave em a little cameo a couple of chapters back. Who says they can't be? Skulls, they came from the first game and were the nightmarish spawn of Oberon Greenhaze after a curse fused him into the Evernight forest. Treants, magic treants to be more precise, a combination of the mutated by dark magic trees of the Evernight forest, bits of the great evil tree Kieran turned into firewood a while back, and liquid magic in place of sap. Think of the Dear Skulls as sorta being the spell caster of the warrior, archer, mage trio, they know resurrection, buffing, de-buff and attack type spells.


	34. Chapter 34

**Author Note** : Not much to say right now, Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 34: A Bunch of Dead Workers

Erya was being rather inefficient with his resources at the moment. Among his three slaves one of them was a ranger, a person who specializes in the arming and disarming of various different traps, in this mission that revolves around the use of traps she should be the most valuable asset available to him at the moment. Instead however that Ranger was being made to walk ahead, in the hopes that she would stumble across one of the traps and trigger it, even at the cost of her own life. Simply put, slaves were not cheap, not even Elven slaves, but Erya had his own reason for this wasteful use of resources: his slaves hated him, and for good reason. He sexually and physically abused them and he was personally responsible for cutting off the tips of their ears, so with out the incentive to make sure that every trap is disabled the slaves would feel tempted to lure Erya into one of the traps and use that to kill him. Speaking of survival instincts Erya was also taking advantage of the infamous Elven hearing as he suddenly saw their ears twitching and looking fearful all of a sudden.

"Alright where is it?" Erya asked taking out his sword.

The elves pointed through some bush. Erya grabbed one by her hair and threw her through, just to make sure that this wasn't a ruse to lure him into a trap. Once Erya confirmed the absence of something unpleasant waiting for him he stepped through the bush himself. A single person was sitting on a rather large tree stump sharpening his blade as if he was passing time waiting for someone. The quality of his equipment has gone up since the warrior captain tournament, as had the number of weapons he was carrying with half a dozen katana's sheathed behind him plus the one he was holding being visible. However Erya would never forget the face of one of the top two people he had to kill in order to prove himself.

"Brain Unglass." Erya smiled sinisterly as he sized up his opponent. "As I live and breath."

"Funny you should mention that." Brain stated as he stood up and pointed his sharped blade at his opponent. "I'm here to kill you."

"Oh ho? You kill me?" Erya asked as he took his own katana blade out. "As if someone as weak as you are could kill me!"

"Weak am I?" Brain asked cocking a vaguely interested brow.

Like Brain and Gazef, Erya could also be considered a genius sword's master, and he has been able to perfect his own custom martial arts like Brain who stood before him. Thus, without moving his feet, Erya charged forward with the Shukuchi kai martial art and slashed down his sword just short of Brain's countering range, letting loose with void cutter that disrupted the air in front of him and turned it into a projectile move at point blank range. With no physical attack to block Brain's blade, no matter how sturdy, would not be able to block the blow. And yet Brain was unharmed.

"If I am weak, then what does that make you who cannot hurt me?" To be fair though, Brain never demonstrated the sturdy defense of a monk during the warrior captain tournament so this Gentleman had no way of knowing about his new found defensive power.

"Hmm? This should be interesting." The two of them suddenly clashed.

The use of Shukuchi Kai by Erya gave him a large boost in speed, but Brain who was transformed into a monster with human skin was much faster.

"Is that it?" Brain asked sounding bored.

"Tch! Ability Boost!" Erya shouted causing a orange aura to coat his body. "Greater Ability Boost!" A second darker aura covered his body, right now Erya's entire body was driven to it's absolute limit in terms of striking power.

"Is that all?" Brain's body was suddenly coated in multiple layers of martial arts that he stole from Gazef and the members of Six Arms and his blade started to glow with a blood red aura.

"Ugh! You three buff me!" Erya shouted to his Elven slaves. Fearfully complying with his demands the three elves held out their hands and magic circles appeared from in front of them. Erya was covered in a rainbow of buffs and stared his enemy down. "RAAAGGHH!" Erya made the mistake of opening up with a huge over head chop, Brain responded with a single slash parting his arms from his body. "AGH!" Erya cried out in pain as he realized that his arms had fallen to the area behind his opponent. "YOU THREE HEAL ME NOW!" Contrary to Erya's expectations the light of healing magic did not envelope his body and instead he turned to face three slaves who were looking at him with a thus far unseen look of glee on their faces.

"Heal him." Brain instructed causing the elves to recoil in surprise. At once Erya was healed, but the confidence didn't return to his face, even as Brain kicked the sword back to him.

"What are you playing at! DON'T LOOK DOWN ON ME!" After three hours of beating down the arrogant swordsman, Brain allowed the greens to take him and his pets prisoner after having his fill of his blood.

* * *

Progress was moving smoothly for Heavy Masher, they were sweeping through the area for traps nicely, thus far they dismantled a large pile of logs that was connected to a trip wire preventing a large number of empire troops from being crushed, as well as a rather nasty looking pit fall trap that was augmented with a pair of rolling spikes on either side.

"Someone has way too much time and resources on his side." Back in the days where Gringham competed with two older brother's for the family farm, this much wood and engineering would have been a huge blessing: All of these logs could be used to rebuild the barn, while these spiked rollers could help plow the fields with ease. Perhaps he should call his brother's up with these new things, it would be a good opportunity to show them what he's made of himself after all. Suddenly while thinking about that Gringham was hit in the head with a pine cone. "What the?" While Gringham debated where that pine cone had come from he and his group all could hear the sounds of angry growling from the trees, and see the sight of giant spiders drooling with unpleasant fluids.

"My apologies for my associates noble warriors." Hamsuke ran into the clearing and ground to a halt in front of the warriors. "But they worked hard on the same traps that you have taken apart." At the same time, the escape of Gringham and his associates was cut off by spider webbing like a chain link fence had formed. "In any case: Tis I Hamsuke The Wise King of the Forest!"

"Hey boss, do you know what that thing is?" One member of Heavy Masher asked looking at the new comer suspiciously.

"It looks like a giant rat." Another commented looking confused.

"What business do you have with us rat!?" Gringham asked accusingly pointing his ax at the monster before them.

"My associates and I worked hard on those traps so we can't let you continue." Hamsuke explained as her fiery tail wagged behind her.

"Form up!" Nothing was more dangerous than a rare never before seen species of monster, so Gringham had them form the most ideal formation to dump violence down on the enemy. Warriors like him in front, Magic casters with buffs, debuffs and attack magic in the middle, archers in the back.

"Yes yes Please form ranks properly!" The excited hamster released her magic and techniques. " _Mediorcre Twin Magic!: Quick March! Reinforce Armor! Greater Demonic Possession! Explode Armor!_ " But that was not all. " _Body Strengthen! Flow Acceleration! Full Throttle! Mental Enhancement! Pace of Wind!_ "

Like that the Hamster was coated in a rainbow of Magic and Martial Buffs that increased her power to be closer to that of a high tier monster. Speaking frankly the Hamster didn't feel like it was necessary to go all out like this, but constantly exhausting her magic and Ki reserves, pushing herself to her very limit, was the best way to build up her power.

"What nonsense is this!?" Gringham stated as he backed away from his enemy. "Those are Gazef's Martial Arts!" So the Kingdom has been teaching monsters how to use Martial Arts now. At least one of them needed to get away from here and inform the Empire about this new development before it was too late. "Cut through those webs right now!" While Gringham was distracted Hamsuke made her move, leaping at the enemy before her. The warriors slammed their weapons into her, they bounced off of her explosive hide, the magic casters prepared their attacks, they were swept off to the side by Hamsuke's tail, the archers notched their arrows, they burned in Hamsuke's fire.

"Huu..." The exhausted hamster collapsed flat on her tummy, having already brutally dispatched all of the workers that were trapped in their makeshift arena with her with overwhelming power she now had to pay the price for her transgressions. On that note, the Greens went to work restoring the traps, packaging the workers for transport, removing the web fences, and taking their commander back to Beta Nazarick.

* * *

"So you wasted all of your Ki and Mana reserves on taking out Gringham's Group?" Brain asked looking at Hamsuke who was relaxing on Tantama mats in front of him. "You do realize we have two more groups we need to eliminate right?"

"My apologies teacher by I find myself quite winded right now." Hamsuke was sincere but her exhausted tone of voice made it quite difficult to tell for sure.

"Screw it, I'm going after Green Leaf, you guys chase the other group to the Lizard man Village." Brain instructed the greens prompting them to give a salute.

* * *

While it was true that Green Leaf had taken the area closest to Carne Village, the fact of the matter was that they were still quite deep into the forest now. Even though Green Leaf was known for being overly cautious the fact of the matter was profit always required a bare minimal amount of risk. That said they had given the most high risk areas to the others and they would check on them later, if it turned out they had been defeated they would eliminate the monster weakened by their one time comrades sacrifice. Though they were thinking about that, Parpatra and his team soon came across a rather unusual sight.

"A mansion? Out here?" Parpatra commented witnessing the building he and his group had stumbled across. If this was a Kingdom Base, they needed to report this new development straight away.

"Well, well, well. Look at who saved me the trouble of going to look for you all." Brain commented as he walked through the clearing.

"Brain Unglass? Are you working for the Kingdom now?" Parpatra asked as he got his spear ready.

"Well... I don't get a pay check if that's what you mean. Still there are plenty of benefits, I'll consider this one of them!"

Brain used multiple speed enhancing Martial arts to zoom in close, and followed up by unleashing six slashes of his sword wiping out the workers behind Parpatra in a instant, his mouth left bobbing by that incident, Parpatra screeched as he unleashed stabbing attacks coated in lightning with his spear. Brain's 'Field' allowed him to gauge the incoming strikes and dodge them limber by moving his upper body around. Finally Brain had his opening and slashed Parpatra up his middle using a single stroke of his sword, lopping one hand off in the process.

"GAH!" Parpatra quickly bled out, Brain drunk up his blood along with that of his subordinates.

"Lighting Dragon Tusk and Ice Dragon Tusk. Well I suppose focusing lighting and ice into my strikes would be good but..." This was really getting to be too easy. "I should see if that big bug guy wants to spar sometime." Brain understood the cost of arrogance already, after all he was beaten down by that Vampire Shalltear, then that Demon Demiurge turned him into a monster, now he knows that there are monsters even stronger then them running around too. Survival demands that Brain has humility beaten back into him.

* * *

Throughout the Great Forest of Tob, explosions were going off in rapid fire succession, four individuals were being chased through the forest, Hekkeran, Roberdyke, Arch and Imina were dodging fire ball and trap alike as they desperately tried to get away from the flying salamanders with reds mounted on top chasing them down.

"What are these things Miniature dragons!?" Hekkeran asked as a fire ball went over his head and set some of the hair on top of his head on fire.

"Arrows don't work on them!" Imina snapped as she pointlessly fired her bow at the enemy.

"This path should lead back to Erya's location! If we can find him maybe he can help!" Roberdyck shouted even as he felt the fire nipping at his heels.

They never found Erya, at some point they just got lost along the way and were herded towards the great lakes like cattle.

"What the?"

While panting and exhausted Foresight bore witness to a large settlement of lizard men who were in the process of preparing for a long journey. Not all of the lizard men were going to go, this time around, simply the ones that have met the requirements for Evolution, and once they have the raw materials brought back to the village then further expeditions shouldn't be necessary. Once this expedition has been completed they can begin the process of transitioning into a tribe of nothing but Dragon Newts, but as a part of that new laws had been prepared.

* * *

"So, they're only letting Dragon Newts breed with Dragon Newts." Zenberu noticed reading the report on the paper before him. "Well... we are a tribe of warriors first and foremost. Still isn't the only Dragon Newt we have Crusch?"

"That might be the idea Zenberu..." Zaryusu stated, noting the way that the males of the Lizard Men tribe were now taking to their training with the skull boars with a renewed enthusiasm. Obviously, these were various candidates hoping to be selected for Dragon Newt metamorphosis.

"Well, with a fine piece of ass like that it's only obvious." Zenberu commented prompting a look of rage from Zaryusu.

"Oi oi! You know that we're already a thing right!?" Zaryusu asked as he grabbed Zenberu by his shoulders and angrily shook the much larger Zenberu.

"So? Do you see any other females over there?" Zenberu asked gesturing to the males who were busy training. "Do you really think that Crusch is going to get let off with monogamy?"

As the Balloma woman explained to them, when trying to birth a new species, one must establish a sufficiently diverse genetic base, what ever that meant. Basically their bare minimal goal was to evolve three males, and three females, preferably taken from all five of the pre-merge tribes. Even then, laws have been put in place which demands that each female Dragon Newts must produce a clutch of eggs with each one of the Male Dragon Newts, apparently in the interest of preventing inbreeding down the road, though that rule might be dissolved if it turns out they can raise a sufficient number of males and females.

"Ugh." Zaryusu collapsed back to the ground and crossed his arms in frustration. "You're right, I need more training."

"I'd say! You're way behind! Cryos says I was about a 'five' when we started and you were only a '1.'" Zenberu stated letting out a laugh. "At this rate I'm going to get a piece of that fine ass before you do!" Zaryusu jumped to his feet again and started strangling Zenberu again. "Hey wait! What's that!?" Zenberu wheezed while pointing off in the direction of the tree line.

"What are you looking up Crusch's cloak now?" Zaryusu looked up to where Zenberu was pointing and saw the workers spying on them from the tree line. "We need to get Cryos."

* * *

"A big huge tribe of Lizard men?" Imina commented looking down at the village as they worked to pack up. "What are they doing?" Hekkeran asked as he saw the Lizard men pack up their tents. "Are they getting ready to leave because of the Shining Justice?" Suddenly a literal cold chill went down the worker's spines as a huge wall of ice manifested behind them.

"'Shinining Justice?'" The group turned in the direction of that voice and saw a terrifying sight: one of the lizardmen, his corpse mummified yet still walking around like a undead and dressed in a fancy cloak. "That does sound interesting, I will have to ask you to tell me more." Three of the four members of Foresight got ready to fight, one however went straight to the ground and emptied her stomach contents.

"We can't beat him!" Such was the terrifying power of that undead, The one person she has ever met that matched that raw power was her former mentor Fluder Paradyne, a army can't beat that monster of a mage and they can't beat this monster now.

"'Him' has a name. I am Cryos, and you do not have to defeat me at all. I want information on the 'Shining Justice.' That and I want to know whatever you did to our traps." The four workers looked at each other. Roberdyck cast Lions Heart on Arche and she regained enough courage to stand up on her feet again. The others took one look at each other and dropped their weapons on the ground in front of Cryos.

"What do you want to know?"

* * *

 **Review Section** :

rmarcano321: Good to know. That he does. They shouldn't. Koriander is probably most Ainz like among the three of them in terms of power and abilities, Balloma is a bit closer in terms of personality.

Wacko12: No she didn't.


	35. Chapter 35

**Author's Note** : Not much to say right now, working on my new story is putting my writing a smidgen behind I'm hoping to make up for it during the impending snow days/winter vacation. Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 35: The Surviving Workers

Balloma alongside Prince Zanac exited through a teleportation magic circle into the Lizard Man village. Numerous Lizard men were grinding away at summoned monsters as they trained for the day when they would be selected to become Dragon Newts. Zanac was uneasy about these people. Yes they represented valuable allies in a world where they had none but when the fighting was over how well would they fair in their grand machinations. This woman and her siblings wields a increasing amount of influence in the Kingdom, they train monsters in the use of Martial Arts, they booby trap the surrounding areas into unrepentant merciless death traps. Therefore one question for this brown skinned foreigner became obvious for Zanac.

"Will You marry me?" Doubtlessly Balloma was a beautiful woman, any lesser man would be seduced by her beauty and fail to see the monster below. But Zanac was familiar with monsters who happen to have pretty faces already, no he choose Balloma for two reasons he made very, very clear to her: Her intellect, and her resourcefulness. After all who else would think to draft a bunch of monsters into a army. Balloma hadn't answered him yet, in much the same way he had carefully assessed the value of marrying her she likewise was probably doing the same to him.

"Milady Ooal Gown." The possessed desiccated corpse of lizard man declared bowing to Balloma. "The prisoners we collected are nearby, as are the bodies of their associates." Cryos explained leading Balloma away.

"I'm not a necromancer: I don't go sniffing around corpses give them to Kori's department." Balloma instructed prompting the lizard man to bow in acknowledgement as he opened the tent where their prisoners were being kept. Three humans, Three Elves, one half elf. Balloma's interest was caught by the elves first, walking up to one she grabbed her by her face and turned her head around. "Why have their ears been cut off?" Balloma asked questioningly.

"It's the mark of a elf in enslavement." Cryos explained having received the same explanation from the trio earlier on. "Brain even mentioned in his report that after the death of the man they were traveling with they began beating on his corpse, apparently in revenge for his actions."

"So in other words, you did not willfully enter that forest to interfere with our plans." The glorious empire that her family was once part of also played a role in the enslavement of the elves of her homeland. However, though enslaved they were treated with a bare minimal amount of respect, like valuable resources, after all if the slaves working in a mine die you have to go out and replace them. What the Glorious empire failed to realize was that there were only so many people that they could conquer and enslave before they ran out of manual labor. The way the people of the Baharuth empire treat these elves, far more important than being inhumane, was simply wasteful. After all a Elf's superior sense of hearing allows them to sense danger much sooner then others, but that relied on their ears. "I've seen enough. Healing potions and food for these three now." Balloma stated indicating the three now liberated slaves.

Cryos used his staff to herd the three elves along, that in turn left Balloma's attention turned to the four workers.

"Those three didn't participate in this scheme against us willfully: you four did." Suddenly the four of them felt a unnatural pressure rock them to their core. " **Let's hear your excuses!** " Balloma who had just activated her skill, Truth Teller, against the four adventures demanded.

"We... were... hired." Hekkeran struggled to say. "We... needed... money."

" **For what purposes?** " Balloma asked expecting some pathetic excuse.

"My... Family." Balloma looked down at the tiny little girl she had brought to her knees with a glance and lifted her skill.

"Speak." Balloma stated bluntly.

"We were nobles, because of the Bloody Emperor's policies now we are not! I worked hard to keep my family out of debt but those idiots keep spending all of my savings on stupid things!" Arche stated beating small fists on the dirt in front of her in frustration.

"I'm not your councilor girl make your point already." Balloma stated tapping her foot with impatience.

"I don't care what happens to those two anymore!" Arche spat out her words dripping with venom. "Just let me rescue my sisters I beg of you!"

"So you intended to buy your own sisters?" Balloma could only sigh, she has seen a new low in this world. "Put them some place less comfortable than here. I wish to check on something." Balloma was taken to the tent where the items that the four workers had on them was being kept.

"If I might be so bold to ask Balloma: what are your intentions for those people?" Zanac asked aware of the mistake of classifying Balloma as someone merely human.

"A question of my own first." Balloma stated as she used her finger to draw Zanac closer. "I have a hard time telling the difference in quality of garbage. Could you confirm my suspicions about these?" Zanac seemed insulted by Balloma's question but complied with her whims non the less.

"This leather and armor is decent." Zanac stated flipping the items one by one over in his hands.

"But this mage gear: it's garbage." The mages robe was simple cloth, the staff was weak pine, Zanac found himself seriously wondering if she had just joined an experience worker group.

"So, all of her income from job to job goes directly into her family's savings eh." Balloma confirmed as she rested her chin in the palm of her hand. "I need to go discuss this new development."

* * *

When none of the worker teams returned to the village Zesshi had the Golden reactivated and personally investigated the area. To her annoyance she learned that not only had none of the traps been disarmed, but the ones that were already tripped were reset. No newly converted monsters were coming out to greet her either.

"Taking it from the ass. We've been played." Zesshi concluded as she tapped fingers on a table. "We can't disarm, we can't march forward, and we can't sit on our asses doing nothing while they work on stockpiling power." Zesshi concluded while tapping her finger tips, having eventually reached a satisfactory conclusion. "Hire an arsonist."

* * *

Climb had been continuing his training under Kieran, he was currently, with a great deal of difficulty, chopping through firewood using a single sheet of paper, but he doubted that like Kieran he could hack through cylinders of metal using nothing but paper. Still Climb's daily routine had changed, in the morning he used paper to chop through one hundred blocks of wood. In the afternoon he would slay one hundred summoned skull rats. Instead of sleep he would be made to enter a meditative pose where he would pretend to sit on a chair and pray to his mistress continuously for three hours a night, through this he would build up small amounts of holy power in the form of Holy infused Ki and Holy infused mana. Once his ability was high enough he would be taught paladin skills by Kieran. On the subject of which, it was rather fortunate that Kieran had given him such basic exercises: because he was gone for more time than what he wasn't. Out working to advance the Kingdom's and his siblings objectives doubtlessly.

"Chopping wood... with a sheet of paper?"

"You think we can do that?"

"No. No. The real question here is: why is he doing that?"

Ignoring the rambling's of passer by's, this was important training for Climb to learn that ultimate tier cheat like ability: void cutter that turns a missed slash into a trap for the enemy to walk into.

"Sir Climb!" One of the scouts ran up to the warrior nearly out of breath. "Something is coming from the Baharuth empire!"

Climb and the soldier made their way up the wall. A dust cloud was streaking across the Katze plains, something was moving very fast at them, it was too fast for them to hit with the archers even with the magics of the minions on their side.

"Get the warrior captain now!" Climb shouted turning to look at his subordinates.

* * *

Zesshi was suddenly interrupted by a wheel of fire spinning through the air in front of her and slamming down in a burst of flame, cutting off her advance.

"You are a long way from home puffed up brat." Kieran stated as he pulled his sword out of the ground and pointed his blade accusingly towards Zesshi.

"Why don't you just go to lala land for me?" Saying that, a gold aura advanced from Zesshi's body, growing grass and flowers within the perimeter, but suddenly stopping in a equally large radius around Kieran's body.

"You don't have any of your gassy horses to back you up elf. The likes of your don't scare me any." Kieran informed aiming his blade at the head of the half elf.

"Well now that is a nice surprise." Zesshi stated as she smirked sizing Kieran up and down.

Kieran looked over his opponent, the war scythe she was carrying was the weapon of a high tier undead, a grim Reaper, so she should be someone of a bare minimal amount of danger. Kieran would take some precautions against her, but alas unlike Shalltear she did not seem content to stand idly by to allow him time to prepare.

"Heh. A warrior eh?" Zesshi vaguely recalled mention of a warrior in black armor with horns attacking the men of the sunlight scripture just before those monsters that amused Zesshi so much were born. "Tell me do you know a Necromancer?"

"My Half Sister. What about her?" Kieran stated cocking a brow.

"Well that's disappointing." Zesshi stated letting out a exaggerated sigh. "You as strong as she is?"

"Why don't you come over here and see for yourself?" Asking that, Kieran sent a wave of fire at Zesshi with a single swing of his sword.

Zesshi's response was to smack the projectile aside with the blunt of her war scythe. Kieran used the smoke screen of his own attack to deliver a scissor chop to Zesshi, the half elf in turn used her scythe to vault over Kieran. By the time the exchange was over, both sides were nearly intact, however as Zesshi landed she felt a slight gash on her arm, and Kieran had a gouge in his helmet as well.

"Hmm. Void Cutter." Kieran commented using his eyes to trace the path of the scythe as it came all the way over here from Carne.

"Yeah, I'll be avoiding that." Zesshi stated realizing the cut in the air was made when Kieran drew his sword.

Zesshi channeled Ki into her scythe blade through a martial art and swung it at Kieran using now dramatically enhanced speed, with that lightning arcing off of the blade even a near miss would be a sure fire hit. So instead Kieran took advantage of that, grabbing a knife in his boot he tanked the hit from the scythe head on, the explode armor enchantment on his suit bounced the weapon away from him, and allowed him to follow up with a even bigger blast of lightning from the knife aimed directly at Zesshi.

"Nice, full counter right?" Zesshi asked having immediately deduced the nature of the technique.

"Yeah pretty much." Kieran admitted mildly impressed.

Most metals possess the capacity of retaining a magical charge, hence enchanted weapons and enchanted armor. However when you realize this then you also come to understand the value of carrying around with you a blank, a weapon that had no enchantment on it, and which can temporarily hold the power from a enemies magic attack, which you can then stack on top a bit of your own power, before releasing the accumulated power on the enemy.

"Sorry: I'm afraid that cheap tricks to enhance striking power won't work on me." Kieran explained as he rubbed a armored finger along the edge of his sword.

"Nor me. Been a while since so many of my high end techniques were sealed off so effectively." Blade enchantments were no good, he likely knew a lot of the same martial arts as she did too.

If this kept up they would just keep canceling each other out, then there was the advantage of the weapons they were using. In most cases a scythe was a highly impractical weapon. The blade was angled awkwardly, the whole thing was balanced poorly, Zesshi got her highest kill count out of the thing when she skimmed above the undead that invaded the theocracy and used the thing to lop their heads off. If it wasn't for it's raw power it would probably be one of the weakest weapons she could have ever selected for use. As it was though, it was one of the strongest weapons on the continent purely for the reason of the one who owned it previously.

"Shall we continue then?"

The two locked blades again, screeching in both of their ears as Zesshi had used another Martial art to augment her cutting power, Screaming Blade, named so for the high frequency vibrations made by moving the blade side to side at a rapid pace in a gap of space less that a millimeter thick, dramatically enhancing cutting power in the process. It was a principle that Kieran was familiar with because he could use the exact same martial art, and using that same technique, synchronizing his own blade's vibrations to that of the enemy, he could cancel out the effect.

"Hey hey hey! What's the big idea? Are you holding back your power out of concern for the people on the wall behind you!?" Zesshi asked sounding like she was offended.

"Are you instead proposing that I follow you into your golden laid trap? No thank you!" Kieran landed a kick to Zesshi's mid section pushing her away from him.

Unfortunately, now Zesshi was at a mid range to Kieran where her weapon's length gave her an advantage. Thus Zesshi cut loose with a series of slashing attacks. Kieran however saw her blows coming and matched them: he stabbed one of his blades into the area trailing behind her and flipped over vaulting over the slashing weapon and countered the incoming follow up attacks with his blade. It was starting to get hazardous down there, both sides had by now created a spread of cuts in the air, a dozen criss crossing invisible intangible razor wires designed to dismantle who ever comes into contact with them.

"It looks like we've reached a bit of an impasse." Zesshi commented even her eyes having failed to track the pattern of movement of Kieran's attacks.

"Yes it does doesn't it?" But that doesn't mean the two are without their range attacks.

For Kieran, there was a good chance that Zesshi was aware of and capable of super tier attacks, if she saw him charging up sexta giga then that would be bad for him, as it would incline her to to strike him down while he was vulnerable no matter what.

"Well I guess this is going no where." Zesshi stated as she held up a glowing mass of Ki in her hand. "World Break!" Zesshi crunched that mass of energy in her hand and released a huge explosion consuming the entire wall in the process, a fate that the warrior captain had barely escaped.

"Go get the half elf!"

* * *

"That idiot!" Balloma snapped growling in pure outrage, staring at the distortion in space time created by the World Break Super Tier Martial Art Balloma already had her prime suspect locked in her mindset.

"Tell me: how bad is this?" Zanac asked the look on his face one of someone who didn't understand what was going on.

"My idiot brother, for some reason I have yet to comprehend, has made use of one of the most powerful moves in his arsenal to cut E-Rantle off from this plain of existence creating a giant impassable barrier between E-Rantle and the rest of the Katze plains in the process." Balloma stated as she stared off to the spacial distortion in question.

"Is that a bad thing?" Zanac looked mighty confused with the explanation. "It means that the enemy can't enter the city doesn't it?"

"Until they realize that they can just walk around it because our archers can't attack them through it." Balloma stated as she seemed to use the sun's position to make note of the time. "If Kori hasn't dismantled that thing within the next forty minuets we need to assume a worst case scenario: That she can't." Balloma explained, which meant that instead of one of the many random acts of spectacular violence that her brother was known for this was legitimate strategic arrangement created by Kieran. "Sukyu! Here Now!" The former Small Fang chief in question ran over to Koriander. "What was the last report from the scouts?"

"We received..." A bright red signal flare was shot into the sky with a howl as the chief was talking, which means. "...The Enemy is on the move!"

"I could tell that much." Balloma stated letting out a sigh. "Call a meeting of everyone we have on this side."

To summarize, they had approximately six hundred able bodied lizard men, two thousand minions which they can't use for fear of the Golden, five war trolls born of Demiurges experiments on Guu, fifty treants each capable of summoning a variety of Skull Rats, Deer and Boars, one usually invisible snake man and a handful of former adventurers serving as Zanac's guard.

"Is this everyone?" Balloma asked sizing up everyone present.

"I believe so." Zanac admitted as he let out a sigh. "Alright, how many do the scouts say there are?" Zanac asked directing his attention to Kyuku.

"Sixty Thousand Soldiers. Two dozen magic casters mounted on some kind of horned hippogriff." The Lizardman head scout explained tapping his spear on the stone below.

"'Hippogriff?'" Balloma asked cocking a suspicious brow.

"Wow really?" Zanac himself looked surprised. "I can't believe I know something you don't."

"Out with it fat man!" Balloma barked tapping her foot with impatience.

"A Hippogriff is a hybrid of Griffon and a horse. They're infertile, but in exchange they're a lot calmer and easier to fly than a Griffin. The Empire uses them as a type of areal assault mount."

"Horned horse." Balloma connected those words together immediately and came to only one conclusion. "For Ainz's sake they're flying now." The foreigner present muttered in distaste.

"Something we should know about?" Zanac asked having picked up on Balloma's cursing.

"Lemme put this to you in simple terms." Balloma stated turning her attention to Kyuku. "Those Hippogriff's you saw? Kill every single one of them, even at the cost of your own lives. Am I making myself clear?" Kyuku nodded his head as he quickly ran off to inform the other scouts.

"Is it that bad?" Zanac asked looking legitimately scared now.

"Hmm. How to put this in a way you can understand." Balloma stated as she tapped her foot. "Do you know about unicorns?"

"I've heard of them, never seen them in person myself." Zanac replied in a questioning tone.

"Has anyone from your kingdom ever seen one in person before?" Balloma asked realizing the need to rephrase the question.

"People have claimed to, but they tend to be so stoned out of their minds that we generally assume that they were hallucinating. Either that or they were out right lying." Zanac explained shrugging his shoulders.

"They weren't hallucinating. The gas produced by the unicorn has a number of... unpleasant effects on the body. Or depending on your point of view, very pleasant effects." Balloma started walking around as she continued to explain. "The gas is highly addictive. Those who breath it in are immediately dropped into a state of absolute bless, for creatures of negative end of the spectrum, ones commonly referred to as 'monsters' the effects are also mutagenic in nature."

"'Mutagenic?'" Zanac asked looking confused.

"It refers to one creature being turned into something else entirely. Similar in concept to what we did with the Dragon Newt you saw back at the city walls." Balloma stated before she thought of something else. "Or a victim of Vampirism forcibly transforming into one of the creatures of the night."

"I take it that it's the latter you want to compare this gas to?" Zanac asked cocking suspicious brow.

"There's something I want to show you."

An experimental chamber had been set up in the village, many of the lizardmen were looking at it with ominous fear on their faces, they've seen this thing in action before and they knew what it does to people. A unwilling test subject in the form of a goblin from the forest was forcibly dragged over and stuffed inside of the chamber before it was locked shut. Samples of the Golden were few and far between, most of it these days came from those few brave enough to get close enough to the Baharuth empire to risk infection. As a added precaution, undead who were resistant to the golden were sent in as support units. Now Zanac would witness the fruits of their labors as the golden gas flooded the chamber. The goblin twitched rapidly as it was transformed, it's skin grew fur and a heart shape pattern appeared on his chest. The most notable change was in it's demeanor, gone was the fearful creature that was stuffed inside forcibly, and in it's place was a lackadaisical creature that skipped happily across the ground.

"Here." Balloma passed a knife to the goblin. "Kill yourself."

The goblin immediately and without hesitation stabbed itself in it's throat, blood gushed from the wound as it fell over, even as the light disappeared from it's eyes, the goblin's face was still plastered with a look of pure and utter joy. "This is what we are fighting against." Balloma stated indicating the goblin who died in the happiest moment of it's entire existence.

* * *

 **Review Section** :

rmarcano123: I don't blame you, Ainz manipulates those guys into entering his tomb and then kills them for it, it was one of the low few moments of true douchebaggery for him. Well there's the pit of acid and the room full of fire beetles. He's the former lizard man chief whose body Koriander acquired prior to the full scale attack on the lizardman village, Koriander took advantage of his status as a mummified cannibal to reanimate him as a combination of Mummy and Wendigo. It's something the author did in the web novel.

Chronos0305: Eh. Made sense to me.


	36. Chapter 36

**Author's Note** : Not much to say right now. Haven't been able to write for crud lately. Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 36: Now the Real Fight Begins

Kieran certainly didn't expect to wind up in the middle of a space cut off that morning, mostly on account of the fact that he wasn't planning on making one. So obviously this lady was capable of using super tier attacks. But this worked out to his advantage.

"So, no magic, no martial arts." Kieran commented as he looked around at the scenery that was like shattered glass as he summed up his situation. "What gives?"

"They were just getting in the way." Zesshi stated as she smirked sadistically. "I've always wanted a worthy opponent, now I have one."

"Never had a worthy opponent eh?" Kieran had that benefit, Cocytus and he brawled in their free time. Kieran actually knew how to swing a weapon around outside of dumping skills on the enemy, but could the same be said for his opponent whose never had a worthy opponent? "Well step right up, I feel obliging today!"

Kieran rushed at Zesshi swords ablaze, swinging one she ducked under and instead swiped at Kieran with her scythe. Kieran stabbed the blade behind Zesshi's swinging weapon and used that to vault over her swing and brought his other sword down on her back. Zesshi rolled out of the way of the chop and followed up with a slash from her scythe. Kieran blocked with his blade and thrust with the other one directly at Zesshi's head. Zesshi bumped the sword away from her head with the butt of her scythe and followed up with a scythe slash from below. Kieran kicked the blade away from him and followed up with a sword slash at Zesshi's head.

* * *

The army of the Baharuth empire were marching across the Katze plains, now that they no longer had to fear the long range bombardment of the Re-Estize kingdom they were doing their best to make up for the time they lost. However it seems that they had mistaken a lack of resistance for a easy victory. From the tree lines of the Great Forest of Tob lizard men were lining up their long range implements of violence: Arrows, spears, the occasional sling. But they were better prepared, long range weapons by definition loose their effectiveness at a closer ranges, they lacked the advantage of shooting them miles into the air to build up terminal velocity for instance, and the armies of the Baharuth empire had the benefit of knowing where their enemies projectiles would come from and blocking the slower moving projectiles with their shields. The Empire soldiers at best considered the Demi-humans a distraction compared to their mission of invading the Kingdom. That said, the lizards weren't being completely ignored either, as they came to realize.

"The Forest of Tob has been set on fire!" One of the Lizard men scouts ran over shouting about that, looking over the treeline a raging forest fire had appeared on the horizon.

"So they mean to smoke us out eh?" The leader of the Lizardmen's archery squad commented looking up at the sky, where a tower of smoke had appeared above glowing red embers. "Cut down the trees two clicks from here and have the druids dig a trench. Take away as much of it's fuel as you possibly can." The lizardmen nodded before the resumed to their rain of sharp pointy things on the enemy.

Obviously they knew that the arrows weren't working on them, but the lizards had by now learned the arts of deception and trap setting. One of the mages used a fire ball to light a trail of oil that started at their feet and went down the hill into the Katze Plains setting the oil coated grass lands on fire. The soldiers began stomping their feet trying to put out the fire, and was for the most part successful. Of course then the mages simply just reignited the flame once again.

"Does anyone have a read on the Hippogriffs!?" One of the Scouts shouted.

"Over there!" One of the horned flying horses in question glided over the lizardmen dumping payloads of gold colored gas along the way.

"Light the fires and fall back now!"

The fires in question referred to the fireworks that they intended to use as anti air projectiles. The lizard men paused just long enough to light the match and shoot the colorful projectiles into the clouds of golden gas, and let them off with a explosive blast that caught up the Hippogriffs. But alas that too was within the enemies range of expectations. Protected by barrier type magic, the mages made use of fire ball spells to light the area surrounding the Lizardmen on fire boxing them in, thanks to the smoke screen created by the detonated gas they could work unimpeded. And now that the the Lizard men were boxed in the area the time had come to shoot the metaphorical fish in the barrel. Thus the Baharuth mages rained down their attack spells on the hapless lizard men.

* * *

Mean time the lizardmen's struggle was being looked at from a distance by Balloma through the use of binoculars.

"And that is the reason we make use of the disposable pawns first." Balloma stated as she put her binoculars away.

"What do we do now?" Zanac asked as he realized the uselessness of fire magic in this situation.

"Perhaps if fire doesn't work, something colder will." Balloma stated as she saw reinforcements arriving from the other side of the dimensional barrier.

"You asked for us?" Crusch asked as she landed in front of Balloma.

"You and Cryos are to deploy anti-air magic to knock down some pests for us." Balloma gestured to the battle that was happening between the forces of the Shining Justice and a group of lizard men.

"What are you getting at?" Zanac asked cocking a brow suspiciously.

"When the gasses produced by those unicorns are lit on fire, it results in a explosion, a explosion that the enemy will be prepared for because that is the most logical counter to a gas based weapon. However, if a gas becomes super cooled it will instead condense into a solid, thus containing the substance before it can do any harm. Additionally we also established that those bird brains can't fly under blizzard like conditions." Balloma explained while she had her chin in her hand.

"Lovely, I'll just go get a blizzard that we can dump on the enemy." Zanac stated letting out a sigh.

"Good, then you understand why they're here." Cryos and Crusch made their way across the forest and closed in on their targets, once their enemies were within their range the two of them made use of staffs to stir up a little bit of frosty fun. While they were flying above the battle field, spewing their shiny golden gasses, the Hippogriff's were treated to a rather unfortunate sight of their wings freezing over with icicles and their gasses that served as their signature move being crushed into tiny little balls that fell harmlessly at their side, before they harmfully crashed into the ground dealing huge damage to the beasts and their riders. The deeply confused mages were treated to the sight of a foreign woman holding a automated cross bow to their heads.

"Good day to you." Balloma finished her work and then it was the minions turn, using tongs they collected the frozen chunks of Golden gas and placed them into containers, the bodies of the Hippogriffs, still living or otherwise, were bound and loaded on stretchers before being taken away.

"Mistress, if I might be so blunt to ask, but were we really the most suitable individuals to use for this exercise?" Crusch asked as looked at Balloma puzzled. "Surely master Cocytus is much better suited to this then we are."

"Oh he's much better. For starters he's several times stronger than either of you, for another he doesn't ask me stupid questions at inconvenient times, perhaps most conveniently because the Shining Justice flunkies are stock raving terrified of him." Balloma explained as she walked over to a hill to get a better look at the raging fires going on. "But alas that is as much a flaw as it is a benefit. Because if they figure out we're here then two things will happen: firstly, all of our established fortresses on our home continent will be left vulnerable when they realize that everyone they're scared of is over here instead of over there, and the second they will take their power houses and bring them over here where we are more vulnerable do to a lack of established fortresses." Coming here was a gamble, Crusch understood that much but still.

"If not for you and your siblings then why are the Shining Justice here?" Crusch asked something that had been bothering her for a while.

"War, the messy business that it is, consumes large amounts of resources. If I was a guessing type I would say that they learned about what is for the most part a giant untapped mass of troops and resources around the same time as we did, and same as us came here in order to claim them." Balloma explained as she signaled Cryos to go and exterminate the forest fires and the arsonists responsible for it. "Make no mistake. We came here because we want to take over: this continent and it's people of all shapes and forms will be conquered and they will be made better for it, and following that you will help us to liberate our lands from the likes of these blasted sows! Am I understood?"

"I understand but... how can we help against a enemy that even all of you fear?" Crusch asked somewhat scared of the implications of the situation at hand.

"Simple: We will train you."

* * *

While Balloma was wiping out the magic caster squadron a group consisting of a certain group of trouble makers were focusing on the main force of the army.

"Wow there sure is a lot of them!" A Werewolf in humanoid form commented looking through a set of binoculars. "What do you think Yuri?"

"Now that the plague spreaders have been eliminated we can all do our jobs properly." The Dullahan known as Yuri replied as she smiled warmly to her comrades. "Now do every one know their jobs? Shizu?"

"I will position myself as a sniper in that tree. I will eliminate as many of the enemy as possible from a distance using my rifle." The Automaton stated without a trace of emotion.

"Naberal?"

"I will hang back to the mid-guard position in my monk form and use healing and resurrection magic to support all of you." A doll like being with three holes in her face explained before her features quickly shifted to Nabe's.

"Lupisperga?"

"Use my superior speed to run down the fleeing enemy." The werewolf replied a toothy grin having formed on her face.

"Entoma?"

"I will focus on buffing type spells to support you Yuri." The Spider Hawk Arachne stated in a hoarse voice.

"And Solution?"

"I will attack from below to eliminate soldiers and their equipment." A beautiful blonde explained as a inhuman smile warped her features and melted along with her into a indiscriminate pile of goo.

"Then I will focus on the close quarters combat." As Yuri finished explaining the enemy had come into striking range.

Shizu as the long distance combat specialist started things off with a literal bang. The combination of magics in her weapon flung a enchanted steel slug at break neck speeds, promptly bounced off of one of the shields of the men in the lead with a loud ring, and pierced the soft tissue of not only the shield bearer, but also the three people behind him as well. Like that, the first three lines of the enemy collapsed without even a fight. Lupis rushed passed the soldiers on the left most side, although they moved to intercept her they were were stopped by something holding their feet down, and was soon met with a strong acidic smell as they saw their boots sinking into the slime. Naturally the soldiers stabbed at the black goo that was holding them captive but stopped when they saw the tips of the blades disappear, then they were sent plummeting into the goo like the ground had given way beneath them. Met with that wall of goo, the rapid sniper fire that knocked down their forces by the dozen, and the approaching trio of a Dullahan who was already mass producing shadowy sharp pointy objects, a bug thing that was breaking out the talismans and a Monk who was cracking her knuckles at them. Naturally the Empire troops, lobotomized as they were, made the decision to retreat before they were completely slaughtered. And in the process they were greeted by a werewolf who had cut them off from behind. Met with the kill zone from in front, behind, below and above they were ruthlessly cut down to the very last man by that strike team consisting of a diverse array of monsters.

* * *

"My girls seem to be doing a good disposing of the Rabble." Koriander commented looking at her mirror and a over head view of the slaughter the six monsters were committing.

"Now than, what am I gonna do with you?" Koriander commented as she smirked knowingly at the creatures they had captured/killed, Hippogriff's with a dash of unicorn. For the ones who were killed, the course of action was obvious: reanimation as soul eaters, the combination of racking up a massive death count via wide spread instant death curses and reanimating any nearby corpses with deathly energy was a deadly combination: if even one such creature was turned loose on the battle field above where a massacre had just taken place it would mass raise an entire army in moments and generate enough negative energy to push the Golden back far. Yet for Koriander this was not enough, no, she was going to break these nags, as someone who has felt their plague burning in her veins she was going to break them into a million pieces, take each one of those pieces and reassemble them one by one into a form that she deemed suitable. "Let us begin shall we? You all should be familiar with how this works yes?"

Lightning flew from Koriander's finger tips into the bodies of the still living Hippogrifs, however this was not a transferal of energy from Koriander to the Hippogriff's as with a lightning attack, Koriander was draining them of their prized power, converting that to her own raw magical power, and feeding them only a bare minimum amount of her own power. The end result was a mutation, the single horn retreated into the head of the nags and in their place two more grew out of either side, pure white hair and feathers gave way to a shade that was dark as night. A single toe on the fore limbs of the beasts cracked as they rose into the air and grew to a absurd sickle like length while hooves in the back developed spikes running along the edge of the bottom. If the creature before was a unicorn, then this new version was known as a Bicorn, a embodiment of corruption as oppose the Unicorn's embodiment of purity. Once the beast was converted fully Koriander healed it of it's injuries and released it from it's hold as it was transported into the middle of the arena.

"That form suits you a lot better then some nasty Unicorn." The Bicorn looked over to see a young dark elf child stretching languidly as she circled around her quarry.

Obviously, the task ahead of them wasn't going to be so easy as simply corrupting the beast in question. After being made into a beast of darkness, that unicorn would be warped into a creature loyal only to it's greed and hatred, such a being would never submit to another willingly, thus was the role of beast tamer Aura, to beat this nag down and make it obey her.

* * *

Arwinter, Capital of the Baharuth Empire, inside of the throne room which had been turned into a office, information was being reviewed on their opposition the Re-Estize kingdom. Jircniv was not happy, not happy at all, years he's spent wearing down the opposition, ruined in a single engagement, and he blamed these 'Shining Justice' people for forcing him to send two thirds of his forces towards the enemy. A enemy who recently acquired a strategist of great and unknown ability along with a sizable number of of troops of unknown origins.

"So to what do you to plan to do to make up for this loss?" Jircniv asked as he stared hatefully at the commander of the Shining Justice, wearing immaculate white armor, a blue jewel mounted on a chest and red cape hanging off of one of his shoulders while his head rested against his fist.

"Loss? What loss?" The leader of the Shining Justice asked as he dropped a sketch book that their forces found in Carne Village. "The brave sacrifices of sixty thousand souls is easily worth the confirmation of the information collected in that village." The first picture, a Warrior dressed in black armor and the skins of wolves. "A warrior capable of pushing Zesshi to using Super Tier attacks." The second page, a spell caster with a mask with jewels for eyes. "A spell caster capable of manufacturing mid tier monsters." Finally a dark skinned woman in a white dress. "And a strategist both perfectly willing to use demi-humans, and use them to their full potential." Thus the Shining Justice's ace stood up and left. "Finish work on the transportation circle at once, we must deploy our real forces now that we have confirmation on our enemies presence."

* * *

 **Review Section** :

Chronos0305: Because Fellowship of Evil is still crap, and I didn't have access to a in universe source of Dark Elves on the new world.

rmarcano321: Thanks but I got it covered. Close, the three elves from Tenmu were the most sympathetic, Foresight is a close second. True. That was my train of thought. To demonstrate the length's by which the Golden Strips free will. Truth teller is a combination of stunning the subject stupid through intimidate and expert interrogation and lie detection techniques.


	37. Chapter 37

**Author's Note** : I'll officially be on Vacation as of Monday afternoon, which is rather important sense I'm a wee bit behind on my writing and have been for a little while. Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 37: The Enemy Calvary

Zesshi didn't know how long they had been fighting, she was missing teeth and her face was swollen from repeated blows. She started to wonder if her enemy was some kind of undead underneath his armor the way that his stamina hadn't run out, then again Zesshi was more sore then tired. Still she swung down her scythe like a war pick trying to go for the lion's share of Kieran's organs, for her trouble said pick was grabbed and she was slammed into the ground by it. She stuck the landing and attempted to throw him, Kieran instead let go of the weapon and ran Zesshi through using his own sword before kicking her body clean across the dimensional space. Kieran got her through the spine thereby crippling her, Zesshi knew self healing martial arts but unfortunately for her Zesshi couldn't use them inside of this dimensional space, she had been beaten in a contest of pure power. Ever merciless, Kieran walked over to the half elf, and stomped on her face until she was unconscious.

"Kori! I'm done with her now, get me out of here!" Silence. "Kori!" Great, someone had popped up to keep Kori busy. "Well I better make sure you don't have any of your equipment when you wake up."

Aura was having quite a bit of fun playing rope a dope with the converted Hippogriff in the arena, letting it charge into walls, using her whip to launch retaliatory strikes off to the side. They had been going on like this for some time now, but the mutated beast still hadn't learned the futility of it's actions, as Koriander noted while she looked down at the battle from the balcony.

"Well I guess that's the pride of the unicorn showing through, unlike those good boys the Soul Eaters these beasties don't wanna listen to anyone." Koriander commented having grown bored.

"Perhaps it would be better to break them down into raw biological paste and birth new ones from the raw material? At least then we can train them from birth and turn that stubborn pride to our advantage." Demiurge suggested as he leaned to Korianders side.

"Not a bad plan. Have we heard from Kerry yet?" Koriander asked her mind wandering to the topic of her brother.

"As predicted, the cut off is hampering communication severely. Unlike in the battle against Shalltear we do not have the benefit of a interface with Shalltear which will inform us of her defeat or death, we can only track to see if master Kieran is still among the living."

"Do we know if the Slane Theocracy has their own interface for their Ace?" Koriander asked aware of the fact that they have seized that territory and that it is currently under the control of her undead summons.

"No, it doesn't seem that they do." Demiurge stated a frustrated look on his face.

"Let's review, we know that she came from the Slane Theocracy and that she's strong enough to use Super Tier attacks. Hmm." After moments thought, Koriander smiled broadly. "There's nothing to worry about." Demiurge was legitimately surprised by Koriander's statement. "Even if we assume that their base stats are the same, that half elf was just one spectacularly huge outlier among the Slane Theocracy, I was able to confirm that much when I unleashed by adorable dark children on them." Koriander continued to giggle like a little school girl as she explained what was happening. "Unlike Kerry who has people like Shalltear and Cocy to train with, that lady has no one on her level. So even though her base stats are monstrous her skills are severely lacking. Since Shalltear, who was beaten by Kerry in spite of being made to take him down, only lasted a hour, I say we give this one a hour in a half." Koriander wasn't in a big hurry, thanks to the Shining Justice's ignorance of their presence they had neglected to bring out their big guns yet. Thus as long as they were able to hide their presence and continue to pick off the Shining Justice's forces they would eventually figure out that this place wasn't worth the effort and focus their attention where they thought it mattered.

* * *

Inside of the Capital of Arwinter, a magic ceremony was taking place. Fluder watched as a large scale summoning circle brought forward individuals from the other continent.

First among them was eight legged Unicorn with four wings of a Pegasus, likely some kind of cross breed between a Sleipnir, a Pegasus and a Unicorn, a combination of beasts thought to be divine in origin, additionally it had golden colored veins, like instead of blood it had the essence of the golden itself flowing through it's veins.

The second individual to emerge from the summoning circle was a seven foot tall man with six arms and three faces dressed like a monk, a Asura, a divine class being who possessed vast physical strength. Second among the ones who came through from the other side was a long snake woman with a head of snakes and a blind fold over her face, a Gorgon.

Third to come through was a woman who wore heavy armor but had a pair of large eagle wings draped behind her.

Fourth was a Elven man who had large portions of his body composed of stone, a half golem. Finally there were a pair of short and squat dragon creatures dressed as dwarfs.

"Is this everyone?" Fluder asked as he sized up each and every creature that had been brought before him.

"Yes." With a loud snap the Shining Justice's leader broke the neck of Fluder and allowed him to be dropped to the ground unceremoniously. "My apologies, I needed a moment to deal with this traitor." He was aware of Fluder's meeting with Rose and his providing her with intelligence on their people since they had first met, after all his vast control over the golden made him aware whenever someone with it's power went against him, but it was necessary that Rose be led to believe that they had fooled them, when in reality the so called Overlords had fallen into their trap.

"What is the situation?" The asura asked cocking a vaguely interested brow.

"One of them has been trapped in front of the opposing Kingdom using World Break." The knight explained as he pulled up a chair and sat down in it.

"You found someone who can use Super Tier in the new world?" The Gorgon asked looking shocked.

"She isn't as strong as we are, but she did trap the warrior. If we can find the mage before she releases him..." The expedition leader explained letting his comrades fill in the gaps.

"Our window of opportunity is small: finding the mage is now our top priority." The twelve limb unicorn stated prompting those around him to nod in agreement. "Given their hatred of my species they will seek any chance to wreak their vengeance upon us that they can find. Have any of my brothers been taken lately? And if so, can you track to where?"

"A area within the Katze plains, no doubt the Minions are up to their tunnel digging ways as usual." The expedition leader stated as he looked at the Unicorn. "As long as we're talking about priorities-"

"-Then we must find their sister." One dwarfish dragon started while the other one finished.

"Take out either the warrior or the half elf and they lose a soldier-" One brother once again started.

"-But take out the middle one and they loose the delicate hold they've built over their abominations." And the other finished.

"Indeed, Stheno, Raphael, Shikinai, you three go and find the middle sibling, I will take Sparkles, Kili and Fili to raid their base of operations." The expedition leader explained as he stood back up.

"Do you know where the middle one is located?" Stheno the Gorgon asked as she cocked a vaguely interested brow.

"The defenders of the forest put up a surprisingly effective defense, I'd guess that they have a rather competent strategist on their side." Saying that the two groups split up the expedition leader along with his two draconic dwarfs riding on the unicorn hybrid while the Gorgon, half golem and the Asura went into the forest.

* * *

Balloma was having the Baharuth empire soldiers, both living and dead, transported into Nazarick. Many of them were still alive, once they were systematically purged of the golden they could be converted into Dwelf Dhampires. As for the dead ones, Koriander will likely convert them into undead troops as part of their army of the undead, she should probably call in our forces at the Slane Theocracy to do that, compared to repeatedly killing someone, converting them into undead, then reviving them, simply turning them into undead seemed to have the better result. The most promising of what they had obtained from that battle field though was the Unicorn hybrids. While thinking about these things as she drank wine Balloma took notice of another disturbance in the forest, a large number of birds were running away from a large force.

"It would seem that we haven't killed enough of their people yet today." Balloma stated as she nudge the nearby troll monks who were meditating into action.

When Guu, the quote on quote giant of the East, was first brought to Nazarick Demiurge was given one job, make him better, then mass produce him. Within days Demiurge had used magis to sheer the flesh off of the troll with sheer brute force, then he took those meat chunks and dropped them in vats full of healing potion and liquid magic. After the still living chunks of flesh 'healed' into fully grown War Trolls they were taken aside and trained by the Silent monks, while they're not on their level they have mastered metal skin to the point that their skin is roughly as strong as steel, and Koriander has already tattooed magic protection against the bane of regeneration, fire directly onto them. If some manages to defeat the combination of super strong steel siege engines with high speed regeneration then they really would be in trouble.

"Call back the strike team, we'll need all the help we can get."

"Okay." Crusch flew off into the air to go and retrieve the other monsters that Koriander had evolved into stronger forms.

Based on the sounds coming from the other side of the forest either the trolls had managed to one shot the new opponents and were coming back or something had managed to one shot them and were now approaching them unimpeded. As this was considered a worst case scenario Balloma took preparations having bombardment type reds position themselves to strike. Imagine then when what emerged from the tree line that surrounded the clearing was both ally and enemy in one, the trolls whose bodies had been turned into stone and which were then turned into golems.

"Cute. Stheno, Shikinai I know you're over there!" Indeed, the Gorgon and the half golem in question were the obvious suspects, and they made no secret about their presence emerging from behind the two former trolls. "I don't see that spider horse around anywhere, did you leave that freak of nature at home?"

"Do not insult the great Sparkles whore!" Shikinai stated as he pulled out a sword from behind him.

"Anyone who seriously refers to themselves as 'The Great Sparkles' deserves to be insulted." Balloma countered noting that she didn't see the spread of the Golden coming off of the two of them. "So this isn't a conversion but a assassination."

"Of course, unlike your siblings your asset lies in your mind, if we take that away from you then you'll be useless to us. Comparing the cost of converting you to the profit gained it would just be better to kill you." Shikinai explained tapping a blade against his shoulder.

"Well that is very good to know." Balloma explained as she gestured to the minions. "Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to use these." Balloma explained as she tossed a couple of magic scrolls into the air, which then opened, activated, and disappeared.

Something reached over and grabbed Stheno and yanked her over and threw her back through the clearing they had just made, Stheno wasn't quite sure what it was she was looking at. It was huge, it's large frame, huge claws and hair like metal wires reminded her of a Troglodyte, which was unfortunate since troglodytes being blind were completely immune to her petrifying gaze, but it looked like it was made out of corpses strategically stitched together, and it was thick with demonic aura. One had appeared in front of Shikina too, a giant undead monkey in a restraint jacked and knives for fingers, it's body thick with the negative aura of a demon.

"What abominations have you been breeding!" Stheno screeched witnessing the sight of the disgusting creature before her.

"Nether Ghuls, if what Koriander promised is true then they're the the stuff of nightmares." Balloma commented while she watched the sky.

Stheno moved to slam her tail into her opponent but found her enemy tanking the damage and grabbing the tail, Stheno stymied by a monster with a combination of immunity against her signature attack and brute strength. However Stheno was not short on allies as she called forth the two stony trolls at either side of her and together they slammed their fists into that tailor made monster forcing it to release Stheno. After all the Gorgon was a creature whose battle potential rose with the number of enemies she faced.

Shikinai on the other hand demonstrated the exact definition of the phrase 'glass balista' as every strike of his weapon tore apart everything in the general direction of it's strikes. Understanding that, Shikinai's opponent was a combination of two high agility creatures, A Jack the Ripper, reanimated from a Wukong summon and possessed by a speed demon, a combination of agility and speed with little emphasis on offensive power. Still, despite Koriander's talent they were only stupid summons compared to the enemy who had upper class strength. Perhaps it was for that same reason why Baloma had prepared for a contingency for this exact scenario as she pulled out another magic scroll. Suddenly a figure of unknown origin fell from the sky and landed on her pinning her down by her head, torso and all four of her limbs.

"Ah Raphael." Balloma spat out a lugi of blood and some of her teeth. "I was wondering when you'd show up."

"Call your pets off!" Raphael stated in no uncertain terms.

"Or you'll what kill me?" Balloma asked in a sarcastic tone.

"No. That will be your reward." Saying that, Raphael squeezed down on Balloma's arm until he crushed it.

"RAH!" Balloma quietly gritted her teeth as Raphael destroyed the bones in her arm.

"Ready to talk yet?"

"How about a free piece of advice? Duck?" Confused, Raphael actually did the opposite and straightened out as he looked around.

Suddenly the entire area was hit with a blizzard, not the end fall of the winter kind, but a full blown legitimate blizzard. Against the this harsh cold that he had inadvertently left himself open to Raphael covered his face with his arm, and thus was blind sided as a lance made out of ice was chucked at him with sufficient force to push him off of Balloma and lodge the tip in his abdomen. Using that opening Crusch swooped in and grabbed Balloma via newly developed opposable toes before taking back off into the air. But Raphael had another matter of much greater interest that had appeared before him.

"Imagine. Our. Surprise. To. Learn. That. You. People. Had. Made. A. Appearance." Cocytus stated clacking mandibles together in annoyance. "We. Have. Lost. Many. To. Your. Poison." Cocytus stated accusingly pointing one of those clawed fingers of his at his six armed enemy.

"I don't want to hear something like that from the people who rain down acid on the battlefield." The asura stated accusingly pointing a finger at his four armed opponent.

"Are you two done yet?" Two Shalltear's fluttered down next to Cocytus, with the second one changing form into that of Pandora's Actor.

"So many of your strongest in one place." Shikinai stated as he finally managed to chop the head off of his enemy.

"Aren't you concerned for for your little head quarters?" The Gorgon asked as the summon she was fighting turned to stone and crumbled away under the influence of Stheno's poisonous hair snakes. "Leader, Sparkles and the Twins are probably turning all of the monsters that you've been making over the past nine months as we speak!"

"There's one little thing that they have to get through before they get to anything of important." Pandora stated in a corrective tone with a finger raised into the air.

"And what would that be? Your guard dog is here." Shikinai stated as he grouped with with Raphael.

Smirking knowingly with a prideful look on her face, Shalltear simply said. "The First Three Floors."

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 **Review Section** :

rmarcano321: True. Entoma, I've recently started reading a manga with a cute little spider girl. At this point in time I plan on finishing off the war between the Shining Justice and Overlords, or at least this one battle, and then break for while to plan my next move in the story.

Chronos0305: Glad you liked it.


	38. Chapter 38

**Author's Note** : Apologies. I thought I posted this this morning. Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy!

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Chapter 38: Invasion of Nazarick

Outside of the cropping of artificial hills that surrounded the entrance leading into Nazarick, a group of four individuals two draconic dwarf sized creatures, a twelve limb unicorn, and one expedition leader. A device resembling a cylinder was planted at the base of a entrance leading into the mausoleum. However the group had company, a green foul liquid flooded the area in front of the mausoleum and from that emerged several Death Squire Minions.

"Sparkles." As asked, the twelve limb Alicorn released the familiar orange colored gas, and instantly the undead collapsed as soon as they came into contact with the gas.

"So they aren't sending the living after us because they know we'll just turn them against them. Smart." Kili, the dragon Dwarf with the read hair, stated as he stroked his beard.

"But instead they wasted their resources on small fry they know are gonna die instantly. Stupid." Fili followed up stroking his black beard.

"Enough both of you." The explosive detonated opening the path forward. "Move all three of you."

There was a overwhelming amount of negative energy inside of the tunnels. If not for the brother's defensive technique they would have been choked out on it by now, that said whoever they got to build the place knew what they were doing when it came to trap laying. A single Corridor with holes running alongside the ceiling and floor, in which adamantine tipped spears reinforced with magical energy awaited to skewer unsuspecting Shining Justice mooks commanded to blindly charge forward. And in their holes they stayed, not willing to shatter themselves against the high level armor of their enemies. But that also meant that the enemy knew that they were there. Instead the group of high level executives continued on to the next section, where they were greeted by a underground lake of acid.

"Can you just fly over that Master Sparkles?" Fili asked scratching his head.

"Not likely, that stench is filling the air too." Kili made his point by taking a knife from his pocket and chucking it over the acid pool, it dissolved away before it could even reach the vile liquid inside of the lake.

"Ugh. We can't even afford to breath that stuff in now can we?" Fili stated holding a rag over his mouth.

"If I can release enough of the golden to convert just enough off of this garbage then we might be able to trigger a chain reaction in which we purge it of it's negative energy completely." Sparkles wheezy voice piped up to add it's two cents.

"To do that we must know how much of the acid there is, for that we must know the depth of the lake." The Expedition leader stated as he started to eyeball their next obstacle and tried to figure out how to dismantle it. Suddenly the area started shaking, as if something below was waking up. A huge bony limb crashed down in front of them, one that led up to a body that was pulling itself out of the acid mists to reveal a huge dragon skeleton, the toxins that it was bathing in 'sweating' off of it's frame that defined the term skeleton. "Besides it looks like we have a target."

Sparkles loosed his flatulence in the direction of his opponent intending to wipe out the negative energy that held it's frame together. Said giant mass of bone blasted them with super cooled air pushing the cloud of golden air away and compressed it together into a solid mass roughly the size of a golf ball and covering the Shining Justice with a layer of frost.

"Cr-cr-crap!"

* * *

Deep down below, Koriander was seated on her throne as she used her mask to directly control the frost dragon that they found at the bottom of the lizard man's lake. Although not the type to apply brute force to a situation Koriander used the bony arm of the dragon to smash the frozen Shining Justice execs. Simply put, on it's own even though it was a frost dragon, it wasn't all that powerful, due to the lack of other high level creatures in this world, this one was likely never able to reach it's full potential, it was about a mid level creature approximately level forty that had no real benefit beyond the fact that it had ice power and could turn the gas into a solid and keep from breathing it in. Now though, they reanimated it by using the same magic that went into creating a Pesta, a individual who died from disease like this dragon had evidently, and as a result every pore of this thing's body dripped with poisonous bacteria based venom which it was soaking in. To increase it's resistance against the Golden it was possessed by a Fallen Angel, a demon whose specialty lied specifically in converting positive and holy energy into negative and demonic energies and it was definitely doing it's job spewing negative energy and smacking down their attempts to convert/neutralize it. With that combination of tanking, regeneration, enemy attack nullification if it couldn't beat the Shining Justice then it would exhaust and beat them down. Thus was the power of the first floor designed to exhaust the resources of a enemy siege.

"Demiurge my awareness of my surroundings is quite limited at the moment." Koriander stated as the expedition leader countered a straight punch from the dragon with several void cutter slashes that split apart the bones and pushed the expedition leader back into the spike trap. "Could you please check the camera's and see how my sister is doing?"

* * *

Truth be told Shalltear was the one they were most worried about, she was about as close to a living thing as a undead could get which made her vulnerable to the Golden. A lesson they had learned painfully when a encounter with a unicorn with a scouting party had transformed Shalltear from being their loyal subordinate to another mindless drone of the Golden that had to be put down like a mad dog by Kieran. Thus this was the perfect opportunity to test out their fail safe against the golden. Shalltear's armor had been filled with vast quantities of negative energy to server as a buffer against the Golden, failing that a emergency device had been implanted around her neck designed to self destruct if it became apparent that Shalltear was about to fall to the Golden a second time, killing her, and any over puffed do gooders in the area, in a instant. Compared to hunting her down like a dog and killing her again it was the most viable option available to them. Yet it seems that they were just being too cautious.

"What's the matter snake? None of your lil horsies to fight your battles for you?" Shalltear asked as she skewered through more of the trolls turned statues, but unfortunately they retained their potent regenerative abilities.

"Admittedly that wasss our oversssight. We didn't think that you would be ssseeing usss coming." Stheno stated as she swung her huge tail down on top of the head of the vampiress.

A short distance away, a fight had broken out between the half golem and Pandora. The Doppleganger had taken on the form of Albedo who was fully decked out in her extra high defense armor and armed with her cudgel thus had her abilities at about eighty percent efficiency. Currently he was using the counter attack Martial Art, Full Counter, to bounce Shikinai's super high powered slashes right back at him at greater power, under normal circumstances for Shikinai who embodied the phrase 'Glass Cannon' even normal blows would be lethal, these were just over kill. Yet in order to qualify as an attack, those super high powered blows would have to land on Shikinai, but there was no sign of that happening any time soon.

"My, My, My! What a difficult mosquito to swat!" The transformed Doppelganger stated in Albedo's voice at a mocking tone.

"Laugh now form stealer! Even a half dead mosquito can take down a thuggish brute like you!"

While Shikinai and Pandora traded barbs at one another a all out slugfest was taking place between two six armed monsters as Raphael and Cocytus wailed away on each other with their preferred instruments of violence, Cocytus with his weapons and Raphael with his fists. The shock waves the two of them were generating were producing cracks in the area that had been frozen over by Cocytus, that was the intensity of that battle that unlike their respective colleagues they hadn't even time to get barbs in to throw the other's concentration off.

While these three life or death clashes of power were going on, someone who did not like to be ignored watched these exchanges with the veins in her forehead about to pop.

"Ignoring me is one thing but failure to apply strategy in battle is simply intolerable." Like that, Balloma who was more irritated than scared, if at all, deployed the use of a message spell to convey her plans to her would be protectors.

" _Switch it up you three._ " Receiving more detailed versions of Balloma's plans tailored to eliminating each of their opponents Pandora was the one who had to act first in this situation.

As the first stage in Balloma's plan, Pandora tripped, catching one boot on another the Doppelganger in a Succubus's body slammed into the forest floor and lost his weapon which dropped a couple of feet away from him. Shikinai didn't fail to catch his enemies display of shoddy foot work and quickly unleashed a slash of wind from his weapon, not as powerful as Kieran's Sexta Giga but aimed at the doppelganger's neck it would still be fatal. However in that moment the tiny piano wire thin strand of Pandora's flesh that had been tied around the cudgel rescinded into the Doppelganger's body and he had his weapon back instantly, then he used full counter to redirect that nigh fatal attack at Raphael and Cocytus. In that moment the Cockroach man grabbed hold of the Asura's fists and suddenly three of Raphael's arms had been chopped off at the left side of his body. More important than that, Raphael's three remaining arms were held in three out of four of Cocytus's arms, and he had his katana raised up above in head chopping position.

"Die."

With that declaration of death the head of Raphael was parted from his shoulders. Now that the frosty insect man wasn't preoccupied anymore, he saw fit to end the matter in one crushing blow: In a instant a mass of flash freezing was released alongside majority of Cocytus's magical power. With the entire area buried in ice and snow cracks had appeared in Shikinai's limbs and Stheno's golems, additionally as a cold blooded demihuman Stheno was also suffering severely from the cold. But Pandora and Shalltear? Undead were unaffected by the cold, in fact Shalltear actually found the breeze coming off of Cocytus quite comfortable, as did Pandora who turned into Shalltear after redirecting the attack.

"D-D-Damn you!" An immobile Shikinai stated as the cudgel in Pandora's hand successfully transitioned into a familiar lance.

"D-D-Damn You all!" Stheno cursed as she struggled to get away even as Shalltear lifted an identical lance.

Both individuals died at the business end of their enemies lances, all three members of the Shining Justice present had their corpses disappear in the light of resurrection magic. Though the three expected to be praised by Balloma, when they saw her they also say the vein in her head ready to burst at the seams and they _knew_ who was the source of it. Eventually Balloma down graded her murderous rage to mere disappointment.

"Cocytus." The Insect man straitened up once addressed. "My brother has been teaching you tactics yes?"

"Yes. Sir!"

"Tell me how were you planning on handling that situation?" Cocytus's silence spoke volumes.

"Pandora."

"HAI!"

"You spent the majority of that battle in Albedo's form yes?" The Doppleganger vigorously nodded his head in response.

"Did you not inherit a Iota of her intelligence when you inherited her form or did you stuff it all into your muscles?" Pandora suspected he didn't want to answer this question.

"Shalltear."

"Y-y-yes?" Shalltear was scared, she suspected that she understood the nature of the critique coming at her.

"I assigned you as my bodyguard correct?" Balloma asked as Shalltear nodded her head.

"Why then did you leave me entirely defenseless during that whole exchange?" The impact against Shalltear was doubled by the unexpected nature of the blow.

"First, we are going to go break Kieran out of his self imposed cage. Then we are going to Nazarick and throw a appropriate welcoming party for our exceptionally rude associates. Afterwards we are going to do something about your eschewed common sense."

* * *

 **Author's Note** :

rmarcano321: True. No I believe I said that. Stheno is the gorgon. Shikinai was based on one of the Ainz Ooal Gown guild members, also he is the half Golem, the fantasy equivalent of a cyborg ninja. Raphael is a Angelic being based on a Asura, the foot soldiers of the gods in Hindu mythology.

Wacko12: You've probably guessed correctly. Her one condition for choosing a mate is that they can beat her in combat. Guess what Kieran just did.

Chronos0305: Thank you for saying so. I think so, I don't remember.


	39. Chapter 39

**Author's Note** : Not much to say right now, Merry Christmas! Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy!

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Chapter 39: The Previous Overlord

Currently, Balloma had gathered her forces outside of the wall of E-Rantle, the fact of the matter was that they didn't have a way of breaching the dimensional void that was created around Kieran and his opponent, so they had no way of getting to them without dismantling that first.

"Pandora, you can assume Koriander's form can you use super tier?" Balloma asked though she suspected she already knew what the answer was.

"No, the most that I can turn into is a level eighty, even if I'm mimicking a level one hundred, compared to that you need to be a ninety five to use creation." Pandora explained understanding what Balloma wanted him to do.

"Shalltear, can you go to Nazarick and pick up Koriander?" Balloma asked cocking a brow suspiciously.

"I could but she should be managing the defenses of Nazarick right now." Shalltear stated understanding the implications of what the enemy has done.

"So our top ace has been incapacitated, and the only way to free him is to sacrifice our defense." Given this paradox Balloma simply turned to Pandora. "Use Shalltear's gate to go to the throne room and relieve Koriander. Send her back here and have her dismantle this mess Kieran has made." Pandora gave a trademark salute before Shalltear opened a portal for him. "What's the status on the enemy army?"

"Dead. Or. Captured. Demiurge. Is. Changing. Them. Now."

"Plant one on the level ahead of where the Shining Justice is currently located." Balloma stated plainly as she began making her way around the spatial distortion.

"How. Many?"

"Just one I said that!" Balloma snapped causing Cocytus to take a step back. "After having gone through the trouble of breeding a warrior to serve as our shock troops against the Shining Justice I want to see confirmation on our experiment. Towards that end, if it does end in failure and the shiny ones can turn our mass produced thugs against us, I would like to know in advance before I line up armies in front of them!"

"Oh." Cocytus clacked his jaws in understanding as Shalltear opened another Gate for him. "It. Shall. Be. Done." Cocytus was last to leave the area through Shalltear's gate.

"Hold this position, if anyone tries to approach you on foot, kill them, even if it's me." Balloma stated before she walked around the spatial distortion back into the city.

"Balloma." Gazef approached Balloma as she entered the city. "What happened? Our scouts reported that the Empire's army was on it's way then it suddenly vanished."

"Point of interest, sparing those monsters we captured during Jaldabaoth's attack was a wise move." Balloma stated vaguely though Gazef was able to put two and two together. "Now that we're on the same page The empire's allies have figured out where they should really be focusing their attention and as such has sent their strike team into our midst."

"Do you have a teleportation circle set up like the one between the capital and E-Rantle?" Gazef asked waving his men over.

"Yes and no. Yes we have a teleportation circle connecting here and our base, but we also have one set up at the village where the empire has set up their forward operations base, and until that is disabled we can't risk unsealing that transportation circle. So go get your horses, and follow me." Like that Balloma prepared the convoy in question, she herself climbed aboard the lead carriage being pulled by a certain fiery rodent and the elite warriors of the Kingdom following behind her.

* * *

"That. One." Cocytus stated pointing to one of the empire soldiers, freshly transformed into a Dhampire Dwelf, fearfully crowding with the others who were all dressed in the rags of make shift apothecary gowns. Several Minions pushed the indicated patient forward and Cocytus picked him up by his head and dragged him away. "Demiurge. Balloma. Wants. This. Subject. On. The. Floor. Below. The. Shining. Justice." Cocytus stated to the suited demon beside the door in question.

"I see, I see." Demiurge immediately deduced Balloma's intentions. "I will bring you to the second floor immediately." Demiurge opened up the floor to floor teleportation system and Cocytus entered.

* * *

In the mean time on the first floor the expedition leader was still fighting the dragon skeleton. Right now the strategy consisted of using his halberd to continuously smash away at any part of the monster that came within reach while Sparkles attempted to purify the toxic goo the beast had been bathing in. The issue here was a matter of which one lasted longer, the magic reserves of the one who had made this monster or Sparkles magical power. They had taken extreme measures to enhance the power of Sparkles, he was specially bred from three species of divine horses, the Unicorn, The Pegasus and the Sleipnir the combination of which produced dramatically enhanced the magnificent creature's Golden potency. It wasn't enough. So like the Half Elf who was one of their most hated enemies they extracted all the fluid from his body and replaced that with liquid magical power. It still wasn't enough. So after that they used Sparkles to slaughter thousands of demons undead and damned just to increase his power. It was never going to be enough to beat these people. But they would never stop either. For on this day they sought not to convert their enemies, but slaughter them, to kill them to the last and ensure that there would be no one to spawn another this time.

" _Master. Shikinai, Stheno, and Raphael have all been killed._ " A voice tonelessly echoed inside of the head of the expedition leader.

"Lovely." No back up for them, even if the enemy floor guardians were still alive they weren't going to be coming to be converted. Time to stop holding back. "Fili, Kili. Double Full Counter."

At once the two brothers went forward shields at the ready to fight while the Expedition leader took the rearguard position. The Frost dragon caked one of it's forearms with frozen acid and slammed it down into one of the shields of the two brothers. Suddenly Fili redirected the attack to his brother, enhanced with his own power, Kili absorbed the attack into his shield and sent it back to Fili even stronger, like that the attack continuously bounced between them building up power in the process, but not only that, they were also adding the power of the golden to the mix as well, until the green of the poison had been replaced by the namesake color of the Golden. Finally the power reached it's critical mass and was launched into the Frost Bone Dragon eliminating a vast amount of the Poisonous mass that it had been swimming in and dealing large amounts of damage to the beast in question. However that was not the goal, that was the distraction. Further into the hallway the Expedition leader was charging up a familiar attack combining wind, earth, water, fire, light and darkness together into a single blade stroke, and with the full power of Sexta Giga he crashed his attack down on the head of the Frost Bone Dragon, excavating Nazarick in the process and literally blowing the roof off of it in the process.

* * *

"Well that was quite rude." Koriander stated as she took her mask off and put it to her side. "Well... on to floor two then."

"Ms. Koriander!" The Overlord candidate in question turned around to face Pandora's Actor who had appeared behind her. "Ms. Balloma sent me to retrieve you at once and relieve you of command of the Frost Bone Dragon."

"I'm afraid that the Shining Justice has beaten you to it." Koriander stated as she removed her control mask.

"Don't tell me they've taken control over it!?" The Doppelganger asked fear clear on his features.

"No, they ground both it and our top floor into dust." Koriander made a exaggerated put upon sigh as she leaned into her fist. "Pity, I worked hard on that too."

"Ms. Koriander we must return to the capital and free Master Kieran!" Pandora insisted as he gestured to the gate portal behind him.

"Very well, they don't need us for stage two now do they? Still thanks to the shining buggers we aren't going to be able to cast super tier magic to get him out of there now are we?"

"No, I suppose not." Pandora admitted reluctantly realizing that Koriander had just very logically subverted his master's orders.

* * *

Now that the top floor had been split open the acid was draining into the floor below, the split that the expedition leader had created was being slowly widened by the acid poring down the sides like waterfalls.

"Sparkles." The dozen limbed horse stood at attention to the Expedition leader's talking. "Do you have any magical energy left?"

"I fear not Milord." Sparkles replied bluntly.

"Then I and the two dwarfs will continue on here, return to the empire and retrieve our comrades." The horse nodded his head before flying into the air. The expedition leader jumped down through the cracks that he had created when he carved through the floor and landed in a room that looked suspiciously like it was moving. Activating the dark vision enchantment on his helmet the expedition leader looked around to see that the walls were covered in fire beetles. "Did they mean to ignite Sparkles Golden or...?" The he saw the poison that had pooled at his feet from above. The highly flamable poison that explodes when lit aflame. "Ah Cru..." A loud explosion spat the remains of the first floor into the air. The three Shining Justice elites looked highly unamused by the non magical explosion that they were just caught up in that covered them in a layer of black soot. Even less amusing was the various fire bugs that were completely unscathed.

"So the poison from the room above was suppose to pore into here." Fili commented after coughing soot a couple of times.

"But since leader destroyed the room above this one is now null and void. They're all just stupid bugs." Kili commented as he wiped the soot off of himself.

"Both of you quiet!" The Expedition Leader snapped prompting the two brothers to stand at attention.

The simple fact of the matter was that even with the others there is no way they could have gotten past that thing without super tier. The only reason why they had stalled for so long was because they were waiting for their comrades, so if they weren't coming then stalling any longer was rather redundant, hence his use of a super tier attack. However if that was the point, to make him use a ability that he could not use again for forty minuets, then that means that they should be hit by another obstacle that demands a super tier attack immediately. Now they could've destroyed that obstacle accidentally, but somehow he didn't think that they would be quite so lucky. Suddenly a door at the end of the room slid open, and out came someone dressed in medical scrubs. He was a ugly little man, a pair of oversize ears, a big fat nose, about five feet tall, perhaps most important of all was the fact that he was bat shit insane as he charged directly at them in a berserker rage screeching like a banshee. He kept swiping at the trio even after the Expedition Leader picked the man up by his head and held him off the ground. Even then, the man didn't stop swinging at the expedition leader his fists ran raw with blood after repeatedly striking at the metal of his armor.

"You'll have to excuse him I'm afraid." Another figure walked out of the same doorway that the berserk Dwelf ran out of screaming. "We believed that you would have brought the Unicorn with you, hence we decided to use it as a opportunity to try and test our warriors resistance towards your golden plague." A old man dressed as a butler stated as he walked into the room adjusting his cuffs. "However you sent that beast away already, so that makes that individual rather redundant."

"Sebas, how long are you going to wear that ridiculous mask?" The expedition leader asked tossing the man who was so bound and determined to shatter his body against aside like a sack of potatoes.

"I'll show you mine when you show me yours." Even though Sebas said that, the features on his face changed slightly, his skin becoming scaly and his mouth and nose coming out slightly, he closely resembled a humanoid dragon. "Your turn."

At once, the expedition leader took his helmet off. His skin was more tanned than Kieran's, but then again unlike Kieran who grew up in the frozen north this man spent the majority of his time in more temperate climates. Then again this man grew up in the frozen north too so it probably had more to do with exposure to the golden than anything else. His eyes hadn't changed color though, bloody red just like his son Kieran.

"Hello: Master Damien Ooal Gown."

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 **Review Section** :

Chronos0305: Thank you. I can't remember either, but yes I have plans to have the penguin make a cameo.

rmarcano321: Indeed. That she does, and that it is. Nothing specific comes to mind. I have plans for both. The expedition leader, for reasons that I hope are obvious by now.


	40. Chapter 40

**Author's Note** : Not much to say right now. Happy Holidays everyone. Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy!

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Chapter 40: Moving On and Out

Koriander stepped through Pandora's gate and arrived outside of the walls of E-Rantle, and was immediately greeted by the sight of the huge spatial distortion that was created by Kieran's battle with whoever the heck managed to force him to use super tier. Not that she was going to rub that in... too much. Thus Koriander summoned the large scale magic circles that typified Super Tier magic, and after a couple of minuets reality was put back together again, sitting in the middle of where that spatial distortion was Kieran, looking as bored as ever, as well as a naked half elf tied and gagged behind him.

"Where are they?" Kieran stated his voice a odd mix of bored and blood thirsty.

"This?" Koriander snorted in amusement. "This is what gave you so much trouble that you had to use a super tier attack?"

"I wasn't the one who used it." Kieran stated as he gestured to the half elf he stripped and tied up.

"Really?" Koriander continued to snort in derision.

"In both scenarios, someone strong enough that I have to use Super Tier and that the enemy is strong enough to use Super Tier, are one in the same." Now that Kieran got that out of the way he immediately got more serious as he stared down his sister. "Now. Where. Are. They?"

Koriander snapped her fingers and gestured to a gate that had appeared next to her.

"What about your new friend?" Koriander asked gesturing to the hog tied Elf.

"Leave her. She's no interest in helping the Shiny bastards any more." Kieran stated as he stood up and left through Shalltear's gate, prompting his would be date to sigh and roll her eyes.

* * *

The transformed butler didn't blink as he stared down the three before him, one of whom he once swore his life to serve, Damien Ooal Gown, the other two he once thought of as younger brothers Kili and Fili. They were products of a tribe of fools who sought to meld together dragon and humanoid. Damien was having none of that. He sent his minions into their home and almost killed them to the last. Few among the survivors was a young man and two dwarfs that were turned as part of an experiment, the three were spared by the then Overlord, brought into his ranks and trained them as monks. Then one day he was killed, along with his two brothers, murdered by madmen with delusions of adequacy and dreams of genocide. Thus he swore himself to the protection of his lord's heirs, then unborn and within the wombs of his three mistresses at the time of his death. Then as the three of them reached their tenth year of life their father returned to them, bringing in his wake the same golden plague heralded by those who they had thought had slain him as he cut down those that he once considered one of his own flesh and blood.

"I've been waiting you know. For an explanation that is." Sebas stated as he narrowed a glare at the man he once swore his life to. "You turned your back on us. Then you turned your blades to us. So is there an explanation as to what you've been doing all this time, or do you mean to tell me that you are so weak willed that you succumbed to the Golden's Power so easily?"

"I don't recall having to answer to the hired help." The man identified as Damien stated as he checked the edge of his blade with his finger.

"Is that all you have to say for yourself?" Sebas asked as he narrowed his eyes.

"To you? Yes." Damien stated as he rested his sword on his shoulder.

"Then I feel compelled to inform you that your son has come to pay you a visit." Sebas stated as he quickly disappeared from sight.

With a oh crap kind of look the Expedition leader looked down at the magic band on his wrist and confirmed that it had been just over forty minuets since he tore off the top most floor of the underground base.

"BOTH OF YOU FULL COUNTER NOW!"

The familiar multicolored destructive might of Sexta Giga came crashing down through the ceiling of the second floor directly on the heads of the three Shining Justice members. All three of them raised their shields up in time to be brought to their knees by the insane destructive might of Kieran, even with the amplifying might of Full counter trying to push that ridiculous mass of power back on itself it only let out a loud implosion that managed to raise the three of them four feet off of the ground. But the attacks weren't over yet, a loud ring like church bell sounded as a fist crashed down on top of Damien's shield leaving a deep impression in the metal that could be seen from the other side.

"Sebas, the Half Pints are all yours. Me and my old man have some catching up to do." Saying that, Kieran slammed his fists down in a double duke on top of the shield with enough force that he cracked the ground below his father's feet.

"Nice try boy!" Damien raised his weapon to strike his son, however Kieran dropped to the ground and slammed his foot into that cracked floor, punching a hole into the ground beneath their feet as both he and his father dropped into the floor below.

"Mast-!" Kili was interrupted by Sebas slamming his foot into the half dragon's mid section sending him cart wheeling through the air.

"Sorry I'm late, I had to change back into my business suit." Sebas stated as he adjusted his cuffs on his suit in human form.

The pair of individuals fell into a huge underground pocket of lava, Kieran was the first to get out of the liquid rock, his armor super heated likely because it was designed to weather ridiculously hot temperatures in the first place. Kieran's father however quickly leaped out of the lava as well with a chopping strike from his blade only for the weapon to be punched off to the side and followed up by a kick delivered to the old man's mid section pushing him back to the edge of the lava pool.

"Heavy armor and high heat. So this place was made for me eh?" Damien grew up in Nordberg like Kieran, but unlike him his son was far better adjusted to this place, clearly he had been training for a long time for the singular purpose of taking him down. "Clearly you..."

"Quiet traitor." Kieran stated his voice cold and unyielding. "Before you say another word know this: I have no father, I was raised by the King of the Dead and God of the Abyss Ainz Ooal Gown. I was born of Kelda Ooal Gown who raised me on stories of you, once you held my respect now you are dead without even knowing yet." Kieran stabbed the tip of his blade into the ground and scattered ashes into the face of his father. Damien did not fall for the smoke screen and parried Kieran's incoming attack.

* * *

She was gonna kill them. She was going to kill them, revive them, and then kill them again in so many different ways.

"What happened to your base?" Zanac stated standing on the edge of a huge X shaped canyon.

"My meat witted brother and trigger happy sister." Balloma replied her twitching eye giving the impression of a bear trap that was wound way too tight.

"So a genius and a idiot." Zanac commented letting out a sigh. "God it feels like I'm dating myself."

"With all do respect lady Balloma." Balloma turned her attention away from dumping her pent up wrath on Zanac to address Gazef. "But if that's your base and your brother is going berserk inside of it..."

"Ha... they've gotten past the second floor already." Balloma rubbed her temples as she digested the implication of what was happening. Resigned Balloma had some minions bring over a full length Mirror before she addressed Zanac. "I'm going to move some things into the capital, is that okay?" Balloma asked though her tone of voice told him that she didn't care about his opinion.

"Sure." Zanac stated aware of the fact that he had no choice in this matter. As Zanac came to that realization, Demiurge appeared in the mirror.

"Ms. Balloma, I trust you're aware of Kieran's little rampage?" Demiurge stated in a unimpressed tone.

"So glad we're on the same page. Begin packing up floors four through ten, we need to relocate our base." At Balloma's instruction, the minions swarmed Nazarick.

* * *

The same magics that allowed Guu's sword to change sizes were activated with various magic symbols. The Minion Hives, the Store Room, the Overlord's personal quarters, the meeting floor, the treasury, the floor guardians rooms, the Colosseum, all reduced to weight like disks and was now slid onto a single pole that was being carried out by the huge juggernaut type browns towards the one thing they didn't shrink down: a teleportation type magic circle that they used to take all of the things to the kingdom's capital.

* * *

"Make sure that the teleportation circle is destroyed on your way out. If that damnable old man does get past Kieran lets not give him a easy way into the capital." Balloma gave a final order as she turned to leave.

"What do we do now?" Zanac asked cocking a brow suspiciously at Balloma.

"We find Koriander, she didn't put up a fuss when we packed up her room so that means she's not in Nazarick, whatever she's planning we need to be on top of it." Then the ominous sound of thunder booming in the sky sounded.

"Found her." Zanac pointed up into the air at Koriander who was swirling a giant mass of black plasma above her head.

"I'm so glad you guys like our headquarters so much! Why don't you keep it!?" Saying that, Koriander crashed down that giant mass of burning death on top of the huge x shaped hole that was their head quarters in a loud explosion. Kieran grabbed his father at the last second and hoisted him into the air using him as a shield against Koriander's lightning attack. Koriander didn't know that she had just cleaned their base out didn't she? As far as she's concerned she just destroyed all their stuff. Balloma held her hand to her face as she pondered the implications of this new information.

"Gazef, take some of your men and go get what's left of my brother for me." Though Balloma gave that order, what Gazef and his men found at the bottom of the Nazarick crater was too smoking husks in melted metal armor. But one disappeared in the light of revival/teleportation magic. Wisely the men made use of healing potions they got from Balloma to repair the damage done to Kieran's body. Thus Kieran with his armor extremely damaged was helped to his sisters, the latter of whom fluttered down to meet them.

"Koriander, did you just try to blow up our base?" Balloma asked cocking a angered brow.

"Demiurge told me he cleaned everything out!" Koriander smiled in a way that suggested she was lying. "We needed to kill that traitor before he did anymore damage to Kerry."

'But you were the one who nearly killed me!' Is what was screamed from Kieran's throbbing temple. That and 'Don't call me Kerry!'

"They're weak from the revival and on the run. Anyone have any objections to chasing these guys down?" Kieran asked cocking a brow to those who were present.

* * *

The members of the Shining Justice, after sacrificing the Army of Baharuth, murdering his arch mage, carving a path of destruction through the Katze plains, and provoking the wrath of beings several times more powerful than them, were turning tail and running back through their magic circle. They left an explosive behind in the teleportation area that destroyed a significant portion of the castle too, so they couldn't even evacuate their citizenry through that convenient magic circle. Evacuate from what he might ask?

"M-m-monsters!" Some of the few who had not been sent to the front lines was a scouting party who reported on the large ominous group that had started marching on the capital from the north. "Demi-humans! Undead Demi-Humans!"

According to Fluder's apprentices there were High close quarters combat power like the ogres, reanimated as Death Knights, possessed by savage demons of the abyss. The Zoastia, also known as a 'Lion Centaur,' turned into the undead calvary type known as a Pale Rider, possessed by speed demons. High Agility Ape men and Snake men, turned into Jack the Rippers, possessed by the kleptomaniacs known as Light Fingered demons. The Multiarmed Magelos, turned into Elder Liches, possessed by the dozen headed Over-eating granting them vast magical power and knowledge in the process. Any one of those things could curb stomp his army at full strength, what he had now couldn't even be called strength, stripped of his men and his resources the Baharuth Emperor marched toward the leader of that army, a man who wore armor made from the corpses of dragons.

"I hereby accept your unconditional surrender." Kieran stated crossing his arms as he looked down on the emperor.

"Agreed. Should we go back to the castle to talk terms?" The Emperor made a short relieved sigh as he concluded he wasn't going to be killed immediately.

"Where's the Shiny Bastards?" Kieran asked sounding disappointed that the emperor wouldn't be making some last stand.

"Back to where ever they came from, they blew up the magic circle on their way out you can check for yourself if you want." The emperor stated indicating the column of smoke coming from his castle. Kieran gestured to one of the Pale Rider Nether Ghul's and it ran off to the capital.

"Now, before we discuss that surrender, I have to wait for my siblings to get here first." Kieran waved over more of the Nether Ghul's that they mass produced by using Armageddon Evil on the Undead army they drenched up to fight the Slane Theocracy. Led by a penguin harpy which was both alive and un-possessed that was opposite in every way from those that he led including threat level and appearance the bird instructed the hybrid monsters in setting up a dining table and the poring of drinks.

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Meanwhile, no longer being slaughtered by demon or undead, the Demi-Humans living in the former capital of the Slane Theocracy were reviving their people one after another, the number of those that could use Resurrection magic having risen dramatically because of their transformations and the constant battling. Now that the Undead had migrated away to join their masters the Demi-humans could revive their people one after another and build their numbers back up. Using even the tiniest pieces of their bodies they could make new bodies and put their souls inside of them. Slowly but surely, their tribes were restored and invigorated, stronger than before by several orders of magnitude.

"Where ever the Overlord goes, calamity follows in their wake." The familiar form of a demon with a head made of fire commented as he let out malevolent laughter. "Well... at least they managed to get that much right." Saying that, the easy going days of the Demi-Human allianced were violently ended.

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 **Review section** :

rmarcano321: That he is. Thank you. They're certainly trying to be stronger.


	41. Chapter 41

**Author's Note** : Just for the record, there's going to be some continent steam rolling in the next few chapters, just letting all of you know. Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy!

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Chapter 41: Rebuilding After the Invasion

Jircniv along with one of his top four knights, Nazami Enec who dual wielded two shields, had been brought to set of lands within the Kingdom's territory, finally he stepped foot inside of the fortress like mountain range of the Re-Estize kingdom and instead of being here as a conqueror he was for all intents and purposes a prisoner. According to this Kieran person they were going to establish the newly formed pecking order. On that note Kieran seemed to hand the Emperor and his escort over to the custody of a brown skinned foreigner with magic like symbols decorating her body.

"Kieran, your armor's been fixed go get it before you hurt someone." The draconic warrior gave the impression of a eye roll before he left for parts unknown. "So you're the so called Bloody Emperor? Pleasure." The woman held her hand out to shake. "Balloma."

"'Go get your armor before you hurt someone.' You mean to say that's his back up?" The emperor asked in reference to the armor made up of bits of dragons that someone had chipped off.

"Yes. But not for the reasons you think." Balloma turned around and walked inside of the area. This seemed to be newly awarded land and construction was going on inside. "Whereas what my brother's wearing right now is designed to draw out his full abilities his normal armor has several debuffs enchanted into it so that when he carelessly tosses his weight around he doesn't level small villages in the process."

So in other words, instead of having another armor more powerful than this one he was so six gods be damned powerful all on his own that he needed specialized armor just to keep himself from destroying everything in sight. Jircniv didn't know which one was worst. Small goblin like creatures in brown, green, red and blue varieties were acting as the construction workers as they welded, nailed and bolted together the various materials together into a building.

"Excuse the mess. My sister blew up our last headquarters."

"Sounds like you're in a tough position." The emperor stated making note of the matter for the future.

"It does look that way doesn't it?" Balloma led Jircniv into teleportation circle that brought him to their mansion base in the royal capital. "Apologies for the inconvenience but what with the war and all this was the closest magic circle we could use to bring you here." Saying that Balloma entered her office where Sebas and Tsuare waited behind her desk and Balloma took the position between them. "Would you like refreshments? Perhaps something to drink to calm your nerves?"

"As much as it appalls me to admit it, that juice your 'men' served me was quite refreshing and calmed my nerves superbly. Considering I was standing in front of a army of nightmarish amalgamations ludicrously more powerful than I that is saying something." Jircniv stated while his eyes scanned his opponent for an opening with which to strike.

"Head Maid: Idun juice for the emperor, and the usual for me." Balloma stated turning her head slightly to Tsuare.

"Understood lady Balloma." With that Tsuare ran off to the kitchen leaving Balloma alone with the emperor. "Now than Emperor I have a question for you." Balloma stated as she folded her hands together and resting her chin on them. The Emperor gulped as he prepared to receive a severe blow. "How may I help you?"

"...Say what?" Balloma's words dealt such a massive blow to Jircniv that he was left wanting for words. "Would you like me to repeat the question?"

"No. But before I accept your help I would like more information." The magic in Jircniv's amulet acted to calm him down. Tsuare arrived with the Idunian Apple Juice and pored a glass not only for the emperor and Balloma but also Nazami as well.

"Very well." Balloma ate one of her tomato plastered chips before she started. "Speaking bluntly, I don't have many problems with the way that you've been running your country."

"'Many problems?'" Jircniv questioned raising a vaguely interested and confused brow.

"You're doing your slave trade wrong." Balloma clarified which made her head maid a little nervous. "Slaves who are crippled, dead, starved or mentally invalid have to be replaced. Replacement requires more resources then what it took to fix the original product. A unhappy work force is also inefficient, which in turn means that even more have to be taken to make up for the difference."

"...You have a interesting view on the slave trade." Jircniv stated, he wanted to use the term ludicrous but he'd rather not piss off the sister to that monster, as he sipped his juice, figuring that he'd need to make that miracle elixer that easily tore down his panic last as long as possible, he started again. "What you're talking about, we're working on ways of getting around our labor problem using magic, so what you're saying pretty much cuts off all other uses of slaves."

"Golems or Undead?" Balloma asked and Jircniv could barely drown his surprise in apple Juice.

"How'd you know?"

"Because it was obvious." Balloma stated shrugging her shoulders. "Do you need me to ask the question again?"

"No. We originally tried working with Golems but the production and maintenance cost got out of hand. Then we tried undead but we couldn't get around the naturally spawning undead problem. The Shining Justice made us go back to researching golems." Jircniv explained as he narrowed a glare. This would be a good time to assess the brevity of these 'Overlords' magic technology.

"Follow me please." Balloma got up to leave, Tsuare picked up the bowl of chips and Sebas the serving trey and jug.

"Excuse...?"

"Follow. Me." Balloma stated making it clear it was not a request.

The Emperor and his escort followed Balloma to a room where a large mass of stone had been suspended in the air. Various arms were dangling off the side serving no real purpose other than to confuse the hell out of Jircniv.

"What is that?" The heavily confused emperor asked while his face twisted up.

"The product of Koriander's research into golems. She calls it a Engine." Koriander went over to a wall where several gears were mounted on a wall with a crank that the Minions were working, either for testing purposes or more likely to amuse themselves. "Cut teeth into metal disks, put them next to each other in a chain, when you turn one the rest will move too. This combined with a simplified golem designed only to complete the most basic bare bones tasks can be used to create machines that operate at astounding efficiency."

"... Hmm. We never thought of such a method. So you think that this 'Machine' will be able to solve our labor problem?" Jircniv asked as he cocked a suspicious brow.

"Creating specialized machines that can do the work more efficiently than a humanoid figure is ultimately the next major step." One of the Blue Minions drove up to the group on one of the machines that Balloma described, a overly simplified contraption that had two wheels, appeared to be controlled by magic staffs, and illumination stone inside of a lantern where a horse's head would be. "Perhaps a demonstration would ease your mind."

* * *

Fast. That was the first thing that came to Jircniv's mind. Based on the rate the landscape was moving by his face the Bloody Emperor had guessed they must have been moving at least a hundred miles per hour. Not just fast but strong, they were in the same carriage they arrived to the Kingdom in, the one that was pulled there at only eighty miles per hour by two thorough bred Sleipnir. Stronger, faster, smaller size, cheaper to maintain.

"I understand the utility that such technology brings. But don't you think that such a thing is wasted working on a farm?"

"This might just be our vastly different standards speaking here." Balloma stated ready to play a card with the same casual ease she would lay down four aces. "But you do recall that my brother marched a army vastly stronger then anything either of your two kingdoms could scrounge together onto your doorstep right?" And there's the kicker.

"So why didn't you just conquer us? Our army was destroyed and all that. If you wanted our country you could've had it, still can for all intents and purposes too." Jircniv asked sensing the tension building up rapidly in the enclosed space.

"Yes of course." Balloma conversely switched to being deeply sarcastic with a eye roll. "Because everyone wants to rule the world. A few years before we got here you purged all of the noble families from your empire. How has that been working out for you?" Jircniv cocked his eye in suspicion at Balloma. "Over worked? Exhausted? Sick? Am I getting close yet?"

"How'd you know?" Jircniv looked surprised as Balloma easily deduced the state that he and his subordinates had been in for the past several years.

"You dumb-ass, that's what happens when one's reach exceeds their grasp!" Balloma took a deep breath and let out a sigh. "Here's how it works, when a kingdom sets up too many colonies they start to get rowdy so they break down into individual nations, often bloodily. The same holds true when you go around conquering them too. Part of the reason for this is because a singular ruler tries to manage the vast territory they experience the same sickness you have been suffering, as antidote to that sickness they appoint noble families to run their territories for them. That in turn leads to the break down of their countries into smaller more manageable sizes. Rather than try to conquer the whole world, my family prefers to position ourselves in a position of power over the others around us in order to give us the benefits of world domination without the risks involved." So that was it. Ultimately it was something that made sense to him. But the question remains.

"I would prefer to avoid the break down of my country, but I'm not sure I can manage the whole thing either, especially with our forces in the state that they're in." Jircniv stated finally admitting what his advisers have long been telling him.

"What do you need?" Balloma asked repeating a question she asked earlier and being far less smug about it.

"I'd like my army back, if you've taken any of them prisoner that is." Jircniv asked for the first time feeling like he didn't have to be afraid of this woman.

"We're detoxing them of the Golden at the moment. At the same time we've made a few improvements." Balloma stated as her body language relaxed.

"'Improvements?'" Jircniv started to worry again.

"We increased their physical stats using transformation magic. Their basically humanoid, but a lot closer to the superior stats of Elves and Dwarfs, and they'll be able to learn how to use martial arts a lot easier by drinking blood." Balloma stated predicting what Jircniv was going to say next.

"So you...?"

"They're Dhampires not true vampires, they're not contagious and they don't need to drink blood to survive. I won't tell you how to run your army."

"I see now. If my army is half Elf now I will have to rethink our slaving policies. As for my condition?" Jircniv stated relaxing a little.

"How do you feel about elder liches?" Balloma asked expecting a obvious response.

"Not a particularly great fan of them."

"One of many prejudices that you'll have to move past. You already researched the idea of undead as a labor force so at least you're not as bias as others would be. That and your desperate enough that you're asking for help from a bunch of people who marched super powered undead onto your doorstep, so your people should know what they're getting by siding with us." Balloma knew that her idea had enough merit to it that Jircniv had considered it already.

"You mind lending us some living soldiers while you're detoxing our army?" Jircniv admitted he was warming to the foreigner, she had a charm about her of a mature woman, her looks appealed to his sense of aesthetics as well, and she genuinely wanted to help him too.

"The goblins you saw are typically our go to option. They're small but they're powerful and they don't eat much." Jircniv was genuinely amused by Balloma had said.

"I'll have to take your word for that I guess. We probably have all sorts of trouble makers running around the place right now." Jircniv stated as he awkwardly rubbed the back of his head.

"Speaking of which." Balloma gestured outside, they had arrived at Fluder's magic research facility.

"Faster then I thought, or I just lost track of time." Funny. It's been a while sense Jircniv felt like he could fall in love again.

"Can we discuss other matters the next time we're in the Kingdom?" Jircniv stepped out of the carriage.

"Why wait? I have to clean up the Shining Justice's mess within your borders now too. Less they cause complications for us down the road." Balloma stated as she held her arm out for Jircniv to take and help her out in a gentlemanly manner. "...So seeing anyone within the Kingdom?"

"Says the person with his own personal harem?"

"Touche." While conversing like that, the two made their way back to the capital.

* * *

 **Review Section** :

rmarcano321: I thought so. Happy new Year. Conquering. No, I am not going to review your stories at the moment, and if you ask that question again never.

Chronos0305: Maybe.


	42. Chapter 42

**Author's Note** : Not much to say right now. I want to read instead of write right now so I'll see you all tomorrow. Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 42: Expedition: Launch!

Koriander and her mages had been spamming druid type spells for the past several days, vast portions of the Katze plains were effectively leveled and replaced with farm land. Wheat, Corn, Potatoes/Tomatoes, Carrot, Turnip, Apple, Orange, Pear large farmlands, ludicrous amounts and variety of medical herbs and finally several different kinds of plant type heteromorphs including mandrakes, treants and dryads created through magic to serve as general managers. But this was not merely for the sake of food production, this also to put them on solid economic footing, what with Balloma planning to rebuild both the Empire and the kingdom in their image. After this was done they'd go over to the demi human and other humanoid nations of the world and start relations with them. Of personal interest to Koriander was the elf nation, her people, or half of them considering her half blood status, under the rule of a self proclaimed god: Oh that was going to be fun.

"You lot are certainly a interesting bunch." There was one dryad though that they didn't have to summon, rather simply wait out.

Pinison was her name, found by Kieran on his first outing as a adventurer, brought back to Nazarick and subsequently spliced with another monster he had found the so called great tree of evil with a third plant in the form of the skull trees. The combination of the high magical power of the skull trees, the consciousness of the Dryad, and the physical body of the Treant that can get up and walk around had mutated the resulting combination. The end result? The spirit was reabsorbed into the body and transformed into a humanoid figure. A vaguely Elf like body had formed with plant fibers formed into thread, then cloth, then a set of mages robes. Though she looked like a elf the faint green of her skin gave away the chloroform pigment in her skin and the electric blue liquid lines that went over her body the liquid magic in her veins.

"Also, just because my body was in a transitional phase does not mean that I was not aware of what was happening the _entire_ time!"

"What's the matter? Normally people like to watch me and Albedo." Koriander stated as she sized up the dryad up and down. "Come to think of it that body looks kinda familiar, you didn't base it on anyone did you?" Koriander stated as she groped Pinison.

"THE ONLY REASON I LOOK LIKE THIS IS BECAUSE OF YOU!" Pinison shouted at the top of her lungs, grabbing Koriander by her robes and shaking her with great enthusiasm, before that is she eventually slid down into a depressed stupor. "Everywhere! There are monsters who can destroy the world Everywhere! And you are all insane! Every last one of you!"

"Aura remind me Kieran's hamster has been counseling the recruits having a hard time adjusting right?" Koriander asked looking highly amused by the depressed dryad.

"Should I go get her for you?" Aura asked something about the idea of the whip wielding wacko going after the fire breathing hamster greatly appealed to her as a sadist. But sadly...

"No the hamster should be getting ready for the expedition into the frost mountains." When one is going into a expedition into a mountain range covered by ice and snow with a army of cold blooded reptiles, it is wise that one brings along the walking bonfire hamster. Which reminded her. "I just remembered something. Aura get Mare to finish the reformation of the farm lands for me would you?" Saying that, Koriander made her way over to the magic circle which brought her inside of her own personal dungeon.

* * *

Koriander passed by a collection of paddles, whips, plugs, gags and blindfolds and removed her cloak and place it on a coat rack next to them. Suspended several feet off of the ground in front of her was actually another half elf they had recently captured, one Zesshi Zetsume. After having been stripped naked the half elf had been fitted with a number of Koriander's toys that had powerful debuff magic enchanted on them designed specifically to cripple her with weakness including the gag, the blindfold, cuffs and the plugs. Thus Koriander placed the blindfold on the forehead and dropped the gag from the mouth.

"Kinky but I'm not into women." Zesshi stated looking more annoyed than anything else.

"You were born into a army of genocidal lunatics with the delusional belief that humanity are the superior specimens and deserve to be put on the number one spot. Why should we trust you?" Koriander asked glaring her thoroughly incapacitated prisoner.

"I never had any interest in the Slane Theocracy's goals: they thought of me as a half bred mutt and treated me like a bludgeon to beat their enemies into submission with. If you're concerned by any lingering feelings of attachment to those people then I strongly suggest you reconsider." Koriander kept her focus on her would be victim as she had a undead bring her over some juice. "A necromancer eh? So you're that guy's sister, which also means that I got you to thank for wiping those guys out."

"And I have you to thank for exterminating my cute little dark young." Koriander stated as she tried to get a read on her verbal sparring partner.

"What can I say: they were way more fun as a bunch of cute little monsters then as stuffy old men." Zesshi stated doing her best to shrug her shoulders, keeping in mind that her arms had been tied down to her sides.

"...You really weren't very attached to them were you?" Koriander asked as she tilted her head to the side and scratched at her chin.

"That was their fault I'm afraid." Zesshi stated giving a 'I don't give a damn' kinda look. "I was less of a person and more of a weapon of mass destruction to them, I neither got out very much nor interacted with anyone who wasn't one of my numerous instructors in the interest of drawing out my 'potential.'" Hence she had zero interest of defending her home and native land outside of the amusement she got by gliding above the enemy forces and lopping their heads off with her scythe.

"Hmm. I can see you having enough dislike for your people that you wouldn't bat an eye at the idea of them being wiped out now." Saying that Koriander went to a wall where several accessories were hanging, included among them being a collar with the crystal eye of a demon hanging off of it in place of a name tag. "That said, while I admit your war potential as being slightly below our floor guardians, I cannot abide by the fact that we can let you out of here as you are, as such I have a proposal to increase your trust worthiness." Saying that Koriander picked up the red eyed collar and held it in front of Zesshi's Face. "This is one of my own little creations, a collar that has the magic of demonic possession enchanted directly into it, more specifically a Succubus."

"A Succubus? Do you mean a...?" Zesshi suddenly found herself very turned on.

"Originally Succubi were created as a sort of tailor made sex slave, too horny to rape, too kinky to torture and too depraved to mistreat. They were gifted to the exceptionally prominent soldiers in the Demons army. But after a few dozen generations they began to notice something, turns out constantly mixing together the lineages of the most powerful demons in the army is a pretty good way of breeding ridiculously strong soldiers. But that is neither here nor there." Not done picking out accessories yet Koriander walked over to another wall, where she saw stamps for cat, dog, bunny even dragon and there were others too. "What would Kerri like... Ah doggy!" Saying that, Koriander pulled out the stamp in question only to open it and reveal a piercing. "A little bit of werewolf transformation..." Koriander walked over to Zesshi and pulled out her tongue. She used magic to make a hole in Zesshi's tongue before planting the small jeweled piercing in question in inside of it and sealing it in place through the use of healing magic. Zesshi's body was covered in the light of transformation magic and soon black and white hair had covered her body with a dog's tail appearing from her tail bone and a dog's sharp ears taking the place of her regular ears. "Don't forget your collar~!" Saying that in a sing song voice Koriander placed the demonic collar around Zesshi's neck. The two colored eyes of Zesshi were dyed a bright red, the mind of Zesshi then immediately mixed with that of a dog's instinct followed shortly thereafter by the sheer depravity of the Succubus. "Well, I never did ask my brother about his tastes before, you are kind of on the skinny side. Hmm. It's fine, I'm sure the succubus will take care of that eventually, if necessary I'll just swap out what kind of animal you are." Koriander lowered the newly minted animal in heat formerly known as Zesshi to the ground and untied her.

"Ruff! Ruff!" A far cry from the Zesshi before, she immediately sat on her legs and held her arms to her chest panting like a dog and barking for attention.

"Very good, but you are not my pet nor is it my needs you need to fulfill." Saying that Koriander went to a wall and took out a strap on wand and a rather large plug. "So first I will begin training you until you are something my brother would enjoy." Saying that, Koriander went behind Zesshi and grabbed her by her tail and lifted her rear off of the the ground, removing the small plug that was already there, before putting the larger plug beneath her. "Now: Sit!" Koriander put Zesshi's ass back where it was

"KYYAAAHHH-Guk!" Hit with that jolt of stimulation, Zesshi blushed as Koriander rammed her strap on down Zesshi's throat.

"Don't worry, we'll switch it out once you get use to it for a bigger size until you're up to my brother's size. In the mean time begin moving your head." As Koriander said that she grabbed hold of Zesshi's head by her hair and moved her back and forth until she was doing it of her own volition. "Good girl." Koriander petted Zesshi's head. "Now than, my brother is going to be going on his expedition soon, so I'd like to have you ready by then."

* * *

Sebas just finished getting his new suit done, the last one was destroyed when he got caught in the attacks from Kieran and Koriander's blows. Still his high defensive stats pulled through for him and resurrection was thankfully not necessary, though a fair amount of healing was, of course he expected nothing less from the attacks from his masters.

"Sebas sir, are you okay?" Tsuare asked towels for Sebas in her hands.

"I'm fine Tsuare." Sebas took one of the towels and cleaned his face. "How is your sister? I believe master Kieran stated that he found her among his associates at the adventurer's guild yes?"

"Ninya? She's doing well but she's told me she intends to quit being an adventurer and go and work at the Empire's magic research center." Not a uncommon decision among the various spell casters of the two nations.

"Good for her. Miss Balloma as I understand it intends to have the adventurer's guild reconstructed and Master Kieran is currently over seeing the process and we are to go and meet with him shortly."

* * *

Kieran was back in his fully restored armor and sat on a chair within E-Rantle's adventurer's guild, lazily resting his cheek on his fist.

"Speaking bluntly, you've become redundant." Kieran stated not one once of mercy in his voice. "We already have a army that is more than willing and capable of dealing with the pests that has been your job up until now. Redundant, but useful." Kieran stated as he stood up to face the crowd. "Though powerful, the army lacks tact, in matters concerning meeting with other nations, exploring unknown territories, negotiating on behalf of your country, given the choice of cautiously armed thugs training in matters of diplomacy and a bunch of pumped up monsters I know which of the two I'd rather send. As it so happens in the days to come a expedition to the dwarf nation will be launched in a cooperative effort with another party." Kieran waved his finger, and out from the back office walked a snow white Dragon Newt dressed in Spider's silk and carrying a staff made from skull Treants. "This is Crusch Lulu." The group was stunned with silence. "Her people have a vested interest in a certain material found exclusively in the mountains of the dwarf nation. Depending on how well this initiative goes some will even be immigrating here to this city and joining this guild. Now if any of you find this arrangement disagreeable, then I must inform you that the Baharuth empire is planning to adopt our system, and the Slane Theocracy has already been wiped out: you could if you like travel to the Roble Holy Kingdom or the Dragon nation if that so pleases you." Nobody made any effort to leave. "Good, now many of your are probably aware of the giant smoking crater out in the middle of the Katze Plains: Inside of it we're constructing a labyrinth and stuffing it full of monsters to train up adventurer's so that you won't be horrifically maimed in any number of the environments that we intend to send you out to." Brain appeared from the back room, it becoming rapidly apparent that he would be training warriors for the rest of his very long life. "Volunteers for the expedition can sign up with miss Lulu over there, everyone else can follow Brain here to the labyrinth."

Demiurge, in a winged toad man form, watched the proceeding events from the top of the nearby roof.

"Demiurge?" The demon turned around to face Sebas and Tsuare who had just appeared behind him. "I thought you would be working on building up more of the army right now."

"The laboratory is being unpacked, I'm currently assessing the adventurer's. They'll have to trained in diplomacy of course." Demiurge stroked his froggy throat as he thought about the situation some more. "Perhaps as merchants as well?"

"Do you know what lady Koriander intends to do during the expedition?" Sebas asked cocking a vaguely interested brow.

"She intends to visit the Elf Kingdom I believe, something about 'disposing of fools.'" Well, they do need the raw genetic material of powerful elves to advance their Dwelf research. "What of Lady Balloma?"

"Seizing the Dragon empire lands before they're conquered by the Demi-Humans." Well, as long as they intend to seize those area's anyway it's best to do so before the casualties start piling up in Sebas's opinion. "It is Mistress Balloma's opinion that 'countries to which are not in fit state to maintain their independence do not deserve the luxury.'"

"Quite right. Without the Slane Theocracy's backing I'd imagine they're feeling quite desperate right now." The Dragon nation was a weak one that despite rich resources lacked the ability to defend themselves, instead they would hire out Slane Theocracy goons to serve as Demi Human extermination experts.

"I've been meaning to ask, Miss Balloma arranged a giant Spider farm for the crafts department right?" Sebas asked as he saw the adventurer's put into groups and led away in different directions.

"Quite right bit of genius there. The silk produced by the spiders can be weaved into sheets, the sheets in turn are of high enough quality fabric to hold magics up to the fourth tier. It is actually quite superior to most of the creatures we could get access to, which quite effectively blew my original idea out of the water." Demiurge stated as he brushed off his concerns in a over dramatic manner.

"Your 'Original Idea?'" Sebas asked cocking a brow.

"Simply skin a creature who can use magic up to the tier we desire and convert that into parchment, if the creature survives the process we can use healing potions to heal them and regrow the skin." Demiurge explained simply, almost sounding proud that he came up with the idea. "It is a fact we've already confirmed using the hamster."

"Leave it to a demon to come up with the most sadistic idea possible." Sebas could only shake his head in disbelief.

"Not entirely so, we would also make use of mind altering and memory erasing spells to effectively delete the trauma in question. If we just put them to sleep first we can use surgery to extract what we want first and then heal them and they'd never know what we had done." Demiurge let out his signature malevolent laughter. "Well you'll be happy to know that the fruits of my labors may not go entirely to waste: with the number of demihumans who absorb valuable materials into their bodies in the world, we can in theory use this method to continuously farm them for materials."

"Quite true. I'm off to attend to master Kieran's needs before the expedition then." Sebas took Tsuare, likely not wanting her to listen to the demon's prattle any longer, and disappeared from sight. Demiurge on the other hand was left to confidently smile of a job well done.

* * *

 **Review Section** :

rmarcano: So does Jircniv. The whole political and economic revolution thing was inspired by Maouyu.


	43. Chapter 43

**Author's Note** : Not much to say right now, Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 43: Dragon Slayers

There was a lot of snow around these parts, suppose that was why the Azerlisia Mountains were known as the Frost back ridge. Kieran was was currently wading through the snow with the aid of a large black and white wolf, leading a group of lizardmen and adventurers as they competed for space around the walking campfire that was Hamsuke and the various red minions, and away from the walking hurricane in of himself that was Cocytus. Zenberu served as a guide for the group and to his fortune led the group to the opening of a dwarfen city he visited five years before. To their disappointment though...

"Where are all the dwarfs at?" Kieran asked as he tapped his foot glaring impatiently at Zenberu.

"I don't understand they were here five years ago." A deeply confused Zenberu stated as he scratched the side of his head. Seemingly displeased, Kieran picked the lizardman monk up by his neck and planted him in the snow in front of him.

"So it's not your foot print." Kieran concluded having compared a odd print he found to one of his own and to both of the Lizardman's. "It would seem that someone who isn't a dwarf has been in this city since you were last here." Kieran concluded dropping the lizard man behind him. "If memory serves the dwarfs cities are suppose to be connected via a network of underground tunnels." Saying that Kieran turned to look at the two groups that followed him here. "Find them."

Crusch took to the air and started to look around at the surroundings via flying around the massive underground caves, even if there was a limit to her flying in the underground city the fact of the matter was she could see vastly more from up there. Through her various other parties tracked the underground tunnels, during which time teams from Baharuth, Re-Estize and the lizard man village got time to bond.

"So you guys use to be workers?" Peter Mauk of the Swords of Darkness asked as he sat in front of one of the cave entrances. "What's up with that?"

"Our team has our own complications." Hekkeran Termite of Team Foresight replied scratching his chin. "Roberdyck use to be priest, but he got sick of denying people who couldn't pay for medical coverage. Imina is a half elf so Baharuth law didn't favor her rights very well." Hekkeran made a point out of leaving out his own reasons to which the leader of the Swords of Darkness choose to respect. "What about you guys?" Hekkeran asked turning his attention to Zaryusu.

"We don't have 'adventurer's' where we come from. I'm called a traveler, one who seeks resources and technology in the name of improving the lot of my people." Zaryusu explain as he pushed a rock out of his way.

"So it's something like adventurer's then." Though that left them the question of where that four headed Hydra that had been following Zarysu around came from. "Either way we better clear this cave." Saying that Peter took out a hammer and one of the flags they were using to indicate which tunnels had already been cleared and with a loud crunch put the flag into place.

"Hey guys we found one!" Roberdyke shouted leading out of the cave a Dwarf.

Said dwarf was brought before Kieran who was sat on a dwarfen throne petting that black and white dog he had brought with him.

"Name?" Kieran asked giving his dog a ear scratch.

"Gondo Firebeard." The Dwarf replied his eyes briefly trailing over the fearsome looking dog whose head Kieran held in his grip.

"Kieran Ooal Gown of the Katze Coalition." The Overlord Heir replied as he relaxed into his chair. "Leader of a diplomatic envoy to the Dwarfen Kingdom, with intent to establish economic trade." That and to slay dragons, but they'll get to that later.

"'Katze Coalition?'" Gondo asked cocking a suspicious brow. "Never heard of it."

"I wouldn't expect you to have, it was founded not two weeks ago. Sides I would expect that with what happened to your friends in the Slane Theocracy you've been quite cut off for some time now." Kieran replied between his armor, red eyes and casual air of menace he was doing a rather good job of being intimidating right now.

"May I add what you intend to trade?" The dwarf asked trying to stare Kieran down.

Kieran snapped his fingers, various preserved foods were carried in by a group of lizardmen and opened before the dwarf.

"First and foremost: Food, the Katze plains is little more than a factory producing food and medicine right now, we have more than enough to feed two nations through the winter months we have more than enough to share with your people. Aside from that." Kieran wave his hand and Gondo stared in shock as Cryos floated over to him. "Protection, I understand that there are some unpleasant creatures living in these mountains, based on the state of your fine city I would say that you could use some."

"Hmm. That does sound promising." Gondo stated crossing his legs. "Why did you bring so many people along?"

"The humans need training in matters of trade and diplomacy, the lizards wish to collect resources to improve upon their own fighting strength." Kieran stated as he picked up a leg of turkey and bit into it.

"What Kinds of resources?" To the dwarf's question, Kieran pointed upwards where Gondo was shocked to see one of the lizardmen having grown wings and was flying.

"Her name is Crusch, they can make more like her but they need bits hacked off of dragons to do that." Gondo visibly perked up with that statement.

"You came here to slay dragons?" Gondo asked looking rather surprised.

"Yes why do you ask? Did we get the wrong mountain for dragons?" Kieran asked not failing to notice the visible look of malice that appeared on Gondo's face.

"No no you got the right mountain. I'll lead you to my people immediately."

"Really?" Kieran cocked an eye suspiciously at that statement. "Moknach." The leader of the Mythril Adventurer group Rainbow stood at attention. "How are the men?"

"It's been a long cold trip sir, however harsh it's been on us I suspect it's far worst on the lizard men." Cocytus huffed as he prepared a snappy remark but was stopped by Kieran.

"They say a good army runs on it's belly. Do you mind that we go to your city in the morning after we've had chance to rest and eat?" Kieran asked as he straightened up some.

"Not at all, I could go for a little something myself if y'all don't mind obliging me." Gondo stated eyeing the sacks full of delicacies with blatant want.

"Help yourself. We move out in four hours."

Camping wasn't much of a issue, most of the buildings were still intact, it was simply reduced to a matter of setting up bed rolls inside of them. The thing about preserved food is that it was already made into a state that was fit for consumption.

"This beast is very warm what is it?" Gondo asked as he observed Hamsuke mow away at corn.

"Master Kieran called it a Fire Rat, before that it was simply known as the wise King of the Forest." Peter explained drawing on the first time he ever met the Wise King.

"'Use to be?'" Gondo asked sounding mighty suspicious.

"When a creature achieves a certain level of power, it can evolve under the right circumstances into a stronger creature that can pass some of that strength on to it's offspring. For example..." Crusch spread her wings out wide. "That's the reason why my appearance looks so vastly different from my kin."

"It's one of several unique forms of magic that the Katze Coalition is researching as we speak." Hekkeran stated as he slurped his soup.

The conversation caused the gears in Gondo's head to begin spinning at high speed. Thus as Kieran instructed everyone barely had time enough to eat, sleep and pack everything back up, luckily marching until they were ready to keel over did wonders for getting them to sleep. Thus the group marched out for a second time, this time led by Gondo Fire Beard. At minimum they knew they were on the right track when they ran into more dwarfs.

"These guys are Dragon slayers from the Katze Coalition, let them through." Gondo explained gesturing to the small army that was following behind Kieran.

"'Dragon Slayers' eh?" Kieran smirked as he felt like he gained a understanding of what destroyed the dwarfs city.

"We can't let this many people into the city, which one of them is the leader of their group."

"That would be me." A familiar warrior dressed in black walked to the front of the group. "Kieran Ooal Gown, Pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Kieran was led through a city carved out of mine shafts, the entrances and ceiling was a little low for someone of his height but it was nothing he couldn't cope with, fortunately though the Dwarfs anticipated tall visitors and towards that end built the throne room with twelve foot tall figures in mind.

"Noble Dragon Slayer. Though we believe your intentions honest we think your task foolhardy." One of the dwarf kings stated crossing his arms.

"What's foolhardy is waiting here watching your supplies dwindle away with no one coming to help you or replenish your supplies. We're bringing both with promise of more, but your kingdom is isolated and difficult to reach, turn us away now and I promise you that we won't return, and the lot of you will end up going extinct in a tomb of your own making." Kieran promised darkly in a attitude that made it clear he would not be suffering fools today.

"As you say we have little we can trade you with, if we at least had open access to our mines again we could buy your products and pay for your services in Adamantium." The dwarf king replied having deemed it wise to skip to the part where they discuss payment.

"Got any unique magics up for offer? We'll consider it a down payment." Kieran asked very much liking to skip to the part where they kill dragons.

"Well there's rune crafting." Kieran turned around to face their guide.

"'Rune Crafting?'" Kieran asked sounding quite suspicious.

"It's a series of magical symbols that can be carved onto a object to give it unique magical qualities." The Dwarf explained a gleam in his eyes like a lion that had caught sight of a wounded deer. "Surely that counts right?"

"Well?" Kieran asked looking to the dwarf king.

"I'll inform the head magic crafter, any rune smith who wishes to immigrate to your Coalition can do." The dwarf king stated the look on his face not someone who had lost something valuable but rather someone who had just disposed of something with no worth to the irritation of Gondo.

"Fine by me. Now do we know where the dragons are living?" Kieran asked as he rubbed his hands together in anticipation.

"One of our cities, Feo Berkana. But first their is the matter of the Quagoa to address." The dwarf King explained as he prepared to talk about something unpleasant.

"What about the Quagoa?" Kieran asked cocking a suspicious brow.

"Mole type Demihuman slaves of the Frost Dragons, they consume metal and integrate it into their bodies, since the Dragon's moved into Feo Berkana their population has exploded and they're aggressively pushing into our city and mines in search of more ore." The dwarf king explained as he leaned into his fist.

"If they get in our way then they will die." No boast, no threat, just a simple declaration of absolute certainty. "Now if we're excused."

* * *

Once they were in the mine tunnels that led to Feo Berkana...

"Damn that old man!" Gondo snapped as he strangled his pick ax. "That's our people's culture and history you're just giving away there!"

"Tell me more of this rune craft dwarf." Kieran stated as he crossed his arms on one another.

"The long time it takes to prepare gives it more power. Show me a knife and I'll show you enough raw power to crack Adamantium!" A bold claim, one that the dwarf should be prepared to back up as Kieran handed over one of his swords.

"No no no! Rune crafting and enchantment interferes with one another on a fundamental level. If you attempt to carve a rune on a enchanted blade the two magics will warp each other to the point of being completely useless!" Gondo explained as he waved his hands in front of him.

Another easily solved problem as Kieran took the knife from his boot and handed it over.

"I expect to see something spectacular." Immediately Gondo got to work.

Taking out a chisel and hammer he began the process of carving a magic symbol into the blade that Kieran provided for him.

"Done." Gondo handed Kieran back his knife who flipped it through the air a couple of times before chucking it into a nearby wall, and exploding it in a shower of flames.

"Master, isn't that a bit less than the strikes from your usual blades?" Hamsuke asked sounding quite unimpressed about what she had witnessed.

"Yes, but in a eighth of the package. Dwarf." Gondo stood at attention with knowing smirk. "Tell the rest of your kind they're hired."

"Yes sir!" Saying that Gondo ran off and for the third time in as many days the group was led away by a different guide in the form of a group of Dwarfen royal guards. The adventurer's were told to stay behind with a select number of Lizard men in the name of promoting cooperation between the nations.

"Master. What. Should. We. Do. With. The. Mole. Men?" Cocytus asked as the group walked over to a great under ground ravine.

"There's no need to go around disposing of potential resources when we don't know their value, as Balloma would say in this situation. Should they surrender we'll begin assessing the value if not, we'll reduce their population and ship the survivors off to Demiurge's laboratory." Kieran explained as the dwarfs led them to a ravine, where they were met by giant semi humanoid moles with ten inch long claws.

"Surrender or die, your choice." Kieran snapped glaring down the mole people.

This wasn't just a couple of stragglers, but by the looks of things this was a scouting party sent to prepare for an invasion of the dwarf capital.

"Puny humans, what delicious looking weapons you bring with you." One of the Quagoa stated letting out a laugh.

"Cocytus." At once the cockroach man swung down his halberd, and suddenly all ten members of the scouting party were frozen solid in ice. "Remind me how many did we plan on sparing?"

"I. Don't. Believe. We. Discussed. How. Many. We. Would. Spare." Cocytus replied clacking his jaws together.

"Right." Kieran promptly used a magic scroll to open up a gate portal and chuck one of the Quagoa through. As for the rest, Kieran simply ran his thumb across his neck as he walked across the bridge, and the sound of crushing ice was soon to follow him.

Cryos, Crusch and Cocytus all worked together to build a bridge to reach the other side of the canyon big enough to transport the entire party in a timely manner. It appeared that the Quagoa took notice of their missing scouts, as when they arrived outside of Feo Berkana the doors were sealed shut.

"S-S-Stop! Who goes there!?" A dragon like creature was hiding off to the side. Emphasis on dragon like, this thing was way too fat to be a dragon, how the heck did those puny wings carry him? And why was he so small? It was like he had the girth of a adult and the stature of a child.

"State your name or die creature." Kieran ordered pointing one of his blades at the fat creature before him.

"Please wait!" The Creature stated submissively raising up on it's hind quarters and waving his hands defensively in front of him. "My name is Hejinmal! May I please inquire about your mighty name?" The creature followed up one pathetic gesture with another clapping his front paws together and bowing before Kieran.

Dragon's had a racial ability to assess the worth of any object that they lay their eyes on Hejinmal was different from most of them in that he had learned how to refine this ability to tell him the intricacies about whatever he was looking at, as well as how it worked, the Black Knight had a ludicrous number of items on him that required insane amounts of magical power to use. He was hundreds of times stronger then the fat dragon, and several times stronger then the ones who bore him.

"Kieran Ooal Gown." Kieran stated as he put his blade into his sheath and looked at the door before him. "How do we open this door?"

"Might I inquire to what you want in there?" Ignoring the dragon, Kieran slashed at the door with his blade in it's full fiery glory carving through the five inch sheet of metal until it went down. The group of Quagoa on the other side took notice of the group on the other side of the smoldering pile of scrap metal that was a door.

"I am Kieran Ooal Gown of the Katze Coalition." Kieran spun his fire spitting sword in his hand and aimed it at the coalition. "I come barring an offer! Servitude or death!" That got all of the Quagoa up in a uproar as they prepared to attack the group.

"Cocytus." Kieran stated his tone one of tranquil fury. "How many of the moles would you say are there?"

"One. Hundred. Thousand. Master." Cocytus stated giving it his best eye ball guess.

"4000 Males. 4000 Females. 2000 Children. Send them to Demiurge and kill the rest."

"Yes. Sir!" As the Quagoa were about to charge, they were met with a mighty blast of frost that well exceeded anything that their frosty masters were capable of putting out freezing them solid. "Attack. Make. Them. Pay. For. Insulting. Our. Master!" The lizardmen were instantly spurned into action, less they too suffer such a frosty fate, the Lizard men armed with blades and club's went into smash the hapless Quagoa. Minions flooded the sides of the room and started to rain down fire balls on the hapless victims within.

"I expect you to oversee this matter properly Cocytus, no more and no less than what we discussed am I making myself clear?." Kieran asked as he walked into the city.

"Your. Will. Shall. Be. Done." Cocytus stated as he created a ice pillar to assess the progress of his lizard men.

"You..." Kieran stated turning his attention to Hejinmal, who in turn nervously turned his head to look down at Kieran. "I've been meaning to ask but what are you exactly?"

"...A frost dragon." Hejinmal stated nervously.

"Then why are you wider then you are long?" Kieran asked taking a second take of the dragon.

"I'm just out of shape is all." Hejinmal stated disbelief plain on his features.

"Then why were you outside on guard duty, were you exercising or something?" Kieran asked something feeling off about this whole thing.

"Uh... yes in a manner of speaking. Father sensed someone's approach and sent me out to deal with them as a form of exercise." Hejinmal stated, immediately sensing the sheer unadulterated fury that had bloomed within Kieran.

"Right then. Are you going to carry me into meet with the rest of your family or are you going to roll there?" Kieran asked his voice a barely contained mass of rage.

Hejinmal bent down and allowed Kieran to climb onto his nose, then the dragon flapped his disproportionately puny wings and carried Kieran over the massacre of mole shaped ice sculptures that was happening below.

"Are you going to hurt the others?" Hejimal asked looking at the man standing on his nose like a hood ornament.

"I'm not a monster, I don't fly off the handle and kill for no reason. But the one who mistook me for cannon fodder: I want him." Kieran stated in a snarling tone of voice.

Finally the two arrived inside of the former palace of the Dwarfen city, where a group of five dragons had been waiting for them.

"That your old man?" Kieran asked arms crossed.

"Hejimal what is he doing here!?" The Alpha male of the group of dragons asked.

"Forget it I have my answer." Kieran jumped off of the dragon's snout.

"Do not...!" The father dragon was interrupted by Kieran slashing through his snout. "RRAAAGGGHHH!"

The dragon, roaring in pain, Blasted Kieran with it's frost breath and he countered by chucking the Rune crafted knife in his boot into the beast's mouth.

"GAKAH!" The coughing dragon slammed down his fore foot on Kieran who in response slashed off the toes of that foot with his sword. Kieran leaped over the dragon using the explosions from his blades and landed on the beast's back, grabbed both of his wings with his hands, and promptly tore them off, before that is he stabbed the bits of sharp pointy bone coming out of them into the dragon's head and slammed it into the floor hard enough to break it's jaw.

"You and your family works for me now. Am I making myself clear?" The three concubines of Kieran's victim nodded their heads. "Go get the rest of your family, there's a few things I want you to get for me before I take all of your to your new home."

* * *

 **Review Section** :

rmarcano321: Well obviously, they can't really show him skinning people alive and making their skin into magic scrolls. Unlike Yggdrasil the New World is not a video game. In a video game when you kill tens of thousands of goblins in a given area the goblins will continuously respawn without limit, when you slaughter tens of thousands of goblins in a given area that tribe of goblins will go extinct. The reason why no high level monsters are left in the world is because they were slaughtered like dogs, and the descendants of the people who did it can't live up to that level of power because the creatures they could kill to build up to that level of power are all dead now.

OMACOO1: Thank you for saying so.


	44. Chapter 44

**Author's Note** : Not much to say right now, wee little bit behind on my writing and I hope to have that rectified soon. So Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 44: The Dragon Queen

The so called Dragon Queen, Draudillon Oriculus, more so resembled a child than a queen, at least when Balloma first met her, the Queen didn't make that mistake a second time. Being a eighth generation dragon human hybrid she had a limited ability to alter her form. Why then she would choose the form of a child was still a mystery to Balloma but one that could be solved later.

"Should I presume that you want the same deal as the Slane Theocracy?" Draudillon asked looking a touch more comfortable now that she was in the form of a blonde adult as opposed to a child.

"No." Balloma stated her tone of voice one that was cold and uncompromising. "I came here to take over your kingdom."

"That is a rather arrogant thing to say don't you think?" Draudillon asked legitimately taken back by Balloma's statement.

"Truth, not arrogance. If you think otherwise then with what army have you to correct me?" Balloma dared narrowing a glare at Draudillon who could only let out a sigh.

The Dragon kingdom was the weakest in terms of overall military power, possessing neither the natural barriers of the Re-Estize Kingdom or the massive military numbers of the Baharuth empire or access to the legendary weapons of the gods that the Slane Theocracy had. Their military assets could be counted on two fingers: The first sat right in front of Balloma, the Dragon Queen herself. Being the great grand daughter of a dragon lord she had access to powerful magic, magic she couldn't use without enough raw power to fuel it. In theory she could unleash that power that can be considered a weapon of mass destruction on the heads of the enemy by sacrificing one million souls, the approximate population of her country. The second, far more usable and infinitely less self destructive was the adamantine adventurer team Crystal tear who at best could only be considered a team of elite mooks. These two factors had allowed the self proclaimed Dragon Queen to threaten the enemy of her nation, a large scale coalition of beastmen, into submission with the threat of mutually assured destruction. Years of employing mercenaries from other nations though has led the beastmen into calling her bluff. Hence when a message requesting aid was sent to the Baharuth Empire it was instead redirected to Balloma who was now here making her terms quite clear.

"You make a fair point, but I just can't my country over to some random stranger who has barged into my throne room." Draudillon stated having managed to regain her composure.

"So lines on some map means more to you than your own people?" Balloma asked cocking a disinterested brow at the Dragon Queen. "Well I can't blame you they mean more to me than your people too." Tsuare and Sebas respectively brought out a table and map and put them between the two. "Case in point." Using a baton Balloma highlighted the Beastman Kingdom. "This one here for example represents the one that thinks of humans as cattle." Next Balloma high lighted three countries that they had managed to place under their control. "These represent the territories that I and my siblings control." Finally Balloma settled on the area that was nested between these territories, The Dragon Kingdom. "Finally this is you. If you become them then they will become a problem to me." Balloma stated gesturing back and forth between the Dragon Kingdom and the Beast-man coalition. "I despise problems, so I nip them in their ass before the get out of hand."

"So basically, your options are 'eliminate the coalition now' or 'wait until they take over my nation and wipe them out anyway.'" Draudillon deduced cocking a vaguely interested brow at Balloma.

"Speaking frankly it might even be better if I wait, give ourselves the time to integrate our newly established power base, not to mention that we'll look like heroes if we come in and save your people after they've been made into cattle for the beast men." And now Balloma was convincing herself to simply leave the dragon empire to it's fate, something that she admitted held it's merits, if Draudillon didn't accept her offer soon then she really would be leaving them to their fate.

"Huu. Your terms are acceptable. I hope that my people will at least be taken care of?" Draudillon asked sounding quite hopeful right now.

"Between the recent end of the annual wars and the boons made to the Katze plains I assure you we have more then enough man power to feed your people and keep them safe." Balloma stated as the two finalized their deal. "Last question: why the child form?"

"Crystal Tear's leader is a Pedophile." Draudillon stated letting out an exasperated sigh.

* * *

For this occasion, Balloma had brought the Ogres from the Great Forest of Tob, now that the effort to evolve the Lizardmen were nearing completion the time had come for them to look at other creatures to evolve as well. Towards this end, the Ogres had already been subjected to the process of slowly bringing their stats up by fighting summoned monsters. Now they would be bringing those stats up even further by being made to fight against the beastmen. Sebas was placed in charge of their forces and was given a specialty set of gauntlets for the occasion, one resembling a demon's arm and the other a angel's. Supporting them were various shades of minions, though they were already under orders not to interfere unless ordered. They were also joined on this occasion by several of the Dhampire Dwelfs that were bred from Empire Troops, though apparently it was quite normal for the empire to send their assistance as well. Different from usual was a certain elite unit from the Re-Estize Kingdom.

"Never thought I'd be fighting alongside these guys." Gazef commented as he looked at the various Dwelfs and Ogres in Empire Armor that had gathered together. "Did you guys do something weird to them?"

"What makes you ask that?" Sebas legitimately wondering about what subtle differences the Dwelf transformation had managed to induce, it would be quite good to know down the line after all.

"This density of aura doesn't make sense for foot soldiers." Gazef stated stroking his beard.

"As I believe they mentioned my masters have methods for dramatically strengthening their soldiers." Sebas stated shrugging his shoulders.

"How much stronger?" Gazef asked getting the distinct feeling something not quite being right here.

"On average they see a 15 times increase in strength, 6 times increase in speed, 2.5 times increase in durability while dramatically enhancing stamina, healing, life span and ability to learn martial arts." Sebas explained with a casual shrug of his shoulders.

"They're not human anymore are they?" Gazef asked having immediately deduced the nature behind the statistics Sebas spat out. "Perhaps not to a high standard, a human sub species would be more accurate like elves or dwarfs." Or both as the case might be Sebas noted to himself.

"Your master's have a bad habit of treating everything that moves as experimental subjects." Gazef mentioned as he glared down Sebas.

"What you see here is the end result of extensive research conducted into the subject of augmenting non human species and cross breeding between humanoid species. If they thought that it wasn't a safe and effective method of augmenting people's fighting power then they would not have chosen to mass produce it." Sebas stated giving a minimal shrug of his shoulders.

Corpses after all, while possible to be converted to undead, were only of limited value to them.

"I also can't help but notice that you haven't done any of this to Kingdom forces yet." Gazef stated legitimately concerned that a vast portion of the Empire's forces seemed to have been converted into super human monsters.

"They asked. Perhaps you'd want to bring it up with them when we get back to the Kingdom." Sebas stated as he turned around to face the oncoming army of beast men: Kakuen/Monkey men, Rabbit men, Armat's/Rat men, Bafolk/Goat men and Quogoa/Mole men.

Their formation was tight, the Kakuen were out in front carrying tower shields to protect their people in behind, the Goats and the Moles were in the middle ground, the first carrying magic staffs to buff their fellows, while the Moles were likely prepared to dig under ground and strike from below. The rats and rabbits remained in the back position, ready to strike at long range with bows and arrows. Sebas almost wanted to say that they had no real openings, but these Ogres were being specially trained by Brain, Albedo and her sisters: They weren't losing any time soon.

"Let the Ogres go first." Sebas instructed prompting Gazef to nod his head.

"ARCHERS!" The Archers drew their bows and the minions augmented their arrows with Wind magic, a combination that for a brief period of time managed to stymie the advance of the Empire's army. "FIRE!"

Using that combination a second time arrows climbed high into the sky and came down on the armor of the Beast men with enough force to pierce. The enemies formation was ruined as they clumped together under the safety of the Kakuen's shields while the Moles went underground.

"Of course, if it was that easy then they wouldn't be giving nearly as much trouble as they had been." Sebas stated as he watched the moles rapidly approach from under ground.

"Wack Mole!" Shouting that the Ogres slammed their maces down onto where the moles were digging with enough force that they dug into the ground and pulled back out blood. "Wack Mole Wack Mole!" Repeating that mantra the ogres continuously beat the ground with their spiked weapons forcing their enemy to limp away.

"Those Ogre brutes are formidable. It actually makes me scared to think about what they'll be able to do after your people are done with them." Gazef commented as he watched the Ogres continue their advance.

The rats and the rabbits bore the Ogre's little mind, they dunked their arrows in foul green liquid and aimed at a 45 degree angle, shooting at the incoming Ogres, but in a repeat of the earlier move the ogres blocked their shots with tower shields. After repeating this for several minuets the Ogres had finally came within striking range of the enemy and the real fight began. The Ogres had superior brute strength to the Apes and was largely winning in the melee. The rabbits and the rats swarmed them only to find their strikes blocked by invisible blades carried by creatures less than a tenth of the size of the Ogres. In the mean time the beast men were being picked off by archers defending the Dragon Kingdom using magically enhanced arrows. And yet one glaring issue came to mind.

"Is this really everyone you brought?" Draudillon asked looking rather offended. "One squad of Ogres, a bunch of mutant soldiers and a pack of goblins?"

"Patience." Suddenly as if some kind of cue had been made a large barrier had been made around the kingdom. "Magic barrier, no one is getting through those, nothing from that side anyway." As Balloma explained Magic circles appeared behind her out from which emerged Demiurge accompanied by several of the Skull Treants and a certain elder lich. "Now to business."

Dradillon was one of few beings in the world that could use wild magic, when you ignore the fact that she didn't have the actual raw power needed to cast any legitimate magic, as a work around to that Balloma proposed the use of beings with enough raw power to match one millions souls. Case in point, the trees that literally have liquid magic coursing through their veins in vast amounts and had an entire forest worth would actually do very nicely. Which also explained the second purpose behind the magic barrier: something to take the mutual part out of mutually assured destruction.

"The last of our preparations have been completed lady Balloma. Our forces have been retrieved by miss Shalltear." The Elder Lich stated prompting Balloma who had gotten quite comfortable on a portable throne to give the signal.

"Light the buggers up." Balloma stated eating tomato pasted chips that were being served by Sebas.

"Bad Idea! Bad Idea! Bad Idea..." Muttering that Mantra, Draudillon began draining the mana from a small groves worth of trees and rapidly spun her hands together into a large beach ball sized mass of magical power. That ultra dense mass of rotating magical power was then chucked through the magic barrier, sailed over the enemy forces, and slammed down on top of their heads of the vanguard, which then rapidly mushroom clouded and began eating a vast number of beast men before coming down on the magic barrier with enough force that it was left cracked in several places.

"Well that was fun." Balloma commented dully prompting several wide eyed stares from those around her. "Fluder." Balloma stated getting the attention of the Elder Lich. "I want a full report on the wild magic blast we just witnessed." The lich bowed before eagerly running off to compile the data on what they just witnessed. "Sebas, take the Ogres and see if we can round up any and all of the survivors from the blast." Sebas gave a short bow/nod to Balloma before he walked away.

"Tsuare retrieve Solution for me would you?" The confused Tsuare looked to where Balloma was looking and winced when she saw Draudillon on the floor having a seizure.

* * *

Twenty minuets later the reports were flooding in and the conclusion?

"I hate you." Draudillon stated shooting Balloma a murderous death glare. "I hate you so much you do not even comprehend."

"Ignoring her majesty's distress she appears to be in perfect health, she simply gained a explosion of raw experience and leveled up several times. If possible I would like to put her through some education in the magical arts to give her better control over that vast power." The undead known as Fluder stated, though in reality Balloma suspected he merely wanted to use her in one of his experiments.

"Granted." Balloma stated knowingly sentencing the Queen of a newly established allied kingdom to a few short month's as a lab rat. "What about the blast of wild magic? What can you tell me about it?"

"How should I put this?" The undead stated stroking the long beard that miraculously remained firmly attached to his face. "It gave a feeling of being unrefined."

"Explain." Balloma stated not sure what this term meant for them or their military power.

"This as I'm sure you are aware this is a fire ball." Fluder stated producing the spell in question. "Ice lance." Said ball spontaneously evaporated and was replaced by a spear of ice. "Lightning dragon." A serpent made out of lightning appeared next. "The list goes on. For the sake of convenience and increasing the power behind the spell I taught my students to transform the energy into a form they can use for the specific purpose they have in mind. Towards this end, I believe that the magic circle is designed to isolate and convert the magical energy pumped into it into a specific type and then spew it out in a form that suits the castor's purposes. Because of this it takes less magical power to fulfill our purposes."

"So in other words, wild Magic is uncontrolled brute power while the tier magic that we're use to is more about refined use." Balloma stated chin in hand as she carefully thought about what to do next. "No matter. Take your new apprentice back to the facility, I will get this mess of a country sorted into something proper." Fluder nodded as he used a 'Gate' scroll to lead the Dragon Queen away. "Sebas, how did the Ogres do in their first bit of front line combat?"

"Living in the harsh Great Forest of Tob gave them good combat experience, they made for excellent front line warriors, but I believe it is necessary to equip them with proper armor as well." Sebas stated giving a unapologetic view point on the matter.

"Non magical armor is somewhat inconvenient." Balloma stated tapping her fingers. "If their evolution causes them to change body type or size then it will have to be melted down and recycled."

"Perhaps magical silk then." Sebas suggested shrugging his shoulders. "It's nearly indestructible, produced in vast quantities by the spiders, and will change size with the one who wears it. If we wrap them in several layers it will produce a gambison that can be integrated into the armor when the time comes to make proper armor for them."

"Hmm. Yes, that sounds like it will work." Balloma stated scratching her chin. "In either case. I'll leave the task of deciding on a appropriate course of evolution of the Ogres to Koriander. She is quite knowledgeable when it comes to this subject." Which in turn led to new questions. "Gazef didn't get a glimpse at the Dwelf's in combat this time, so convincing him and his people that the conversion is worth the effort is generally difficult." Especially when Elves as a rule have earned a reputation for being ditzy and stupid. "No matter, we'll get contenders soon enough. Did we gather prisoners from the enemy army?"

"Yes. They narrowly survived by cowering under the corpses of their comrades." Sebas stated as he straighten up his posture a bit, specifically allowing Tsuare to cower behind him for a bit.

"Release them. Have the greens follow them to see where they go to hide, if they reach cities or villages then have the greens deliver them ultimatums something along the lines of join or die." Balloma stated as she looked up to the air and smirked. "This seems to be progressing rather nicely." Balloma commented smirking as they slowly secured dominance over the continent.

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 **Review Section** :

OMACOO1: Thank you for saying so.

rmarcano321: That he does, that they were.


	45. Chapter 45

**Author's Note** : Not much to say right now, Hope to see you all again. Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy!

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Chapter 45: The Nation of Elves

This was on the boarder between the former Slane Theocracy and the Elf nation. A place predominantly covered in forests and greenery, these forests were a battle ground between the Elves and more recently a particularly nasty bunch of undead, made from the bodies of demi-humans. More recently though the undead choose to leave them be, called off by whatever brand of monster birthed them, and the Demi-humans seemed more interested in something else entirely as they recently and suddenly packed up and left. That of course didn't matter to the Elf King, who was only interested in the breeding of powerful offspring and made war with others towards that end. With the rapidly increasing number of potential enemies who have up and lost interest in fighting them the Elf King was now turning his ambitions towards the Baharuth empire and their new allies the Shining Justice.

"...Is what we understand the situation to be." Demiurge stated reading the reports written by the three former slaves that they released within the ranks of the elves.

"I take it his people aren't very fond of the old man?" Koriander asked leaning on the side of her own personal portable throne.

"No. They only listen to him under the threat of his own overwhelming power being brought down on their heads: Elves are not taken seriously as a major threat, their territory is considered too difficult to conquer, the only reason why the Elves were at war in the first place was because the Elf King picked a fight with the Slane Theocracy, then he picked one with the undead, more recently he attacked the Demi-Humans with the same lack of provocation." Demiurge explained having by now thoroughly researched the topic. "If we wait for the Elves to disseminate the news of your arrival on their own the matter should be cleaned up within the next few days."

"So the easiest way into the heart of the Elf territory is to simply wait for them to let their defenses down." Practical, boring but practical. "So what are we to do now I wonder?" Koriander asked as she let out a bored sigh.

"Miss Balloma mentioned that she's finished with the Ogres, they aren't ready to evolve yet but she's run out of things for them to fight at the moment." Demiurge explained reading from Balloma's report. "It's much the same way with Kieran. They've succeeded with subjugating the Frost Dragons and allying with the dwarfs. The dwarfs are sending a number of artisans to help improve the structural integrity of our territory and in exchange they request a couple tons of food stuffs specifically of the vegetarian variety."

"The dwarfs are vegetarians now?" Koriander questioned before she reached an understanding.

"No no. They mean to feed their cattle. Kieran is sending over a large number of Quagoa. Apparently they're a species of Demi-human who were serving the frost dragons, along with two of the dragons who resisted subjugation." Demiurge stated a broad smile donning his features as the sadistic gears in his head started to turn.

"Now that's a promising look on your face." Koriander commented matching Demiurge's smile. "Both of the creatures they're sending over have great promise in combination with my pre-existing research into health potions. Firstly, in regards to the Quagoa. They seem to have consumed a large amount of Adamantine and integrated that into their bodies. As a result they have the metal in question reinforcing their entire bodies. In theory if we were to say hack off their limbs, grind them up, extract the metal from the meat and then feed them health potion then their limbs will be regrown without the resources that we extracted from them being loss. Through this we can continuously harvest unlimited supplies of Adamantine from their bodies." Adamantine in turn is a valuable resource vital in the production of prismatic ores, the ore of the gods. So yes, Koriander very much looked forward to that.

"Promising. And the Frost Dragons?" Koriander asked smirking knowingly.

"There are in fact several Frost dragons that were living in that mountain, three adult females, one adult male and several children between them. Of them, only two of them failed to show the respect that Master Kieran is due hence they're being singled out for punishment." Demiurge explained as he checked the details of the report. "I recommend a similar procedure to the Quogoa: we carve off what we want of them, process that into materials we need, use health potion to regrow the lost parts. Aside from that there is also the matter of the lizardmen's evolution into Dragon Newts as well. In that particular case, there is one Kieran recommend we extract the essence we require from." Demiurge stated something in the report seemed to have amused him.

"Just one?" Koriander questioned.

"It seems to be a 'fat bugger and can stand to loose some weight anyway.'" Demiurge quoted looking down at the report and please with making Koriander snort. "Putting aside the matter of the dragons they've also extracted a large number of 'rune crafted' weapons and information on the art of Rune crafting from the dragons layer."

"'Rune crafting?'" Koriander questioned looking only a little bit confused.

"Brute force magic crafting as Kieran described it. If our magic is powerful because of it's level of refinement, Rune Crafting is powerful because of how much power it can channel." Demiurge explained the look on his face someone who has found something equal parts confusing and brilliant. "The dwarfs they're sending over are suppose to be experts on the subject."

"Well than. Sounds like I'll have a brand new toy to play with soon enough." Koriander stated smiling. "In any case, evolving the lizardmen sounds like it'll be more fun then sitting out here waiting for the Elves to surrender, and the lizardmen are suited to a forest life style anyway." After a short amount of time had past the necessary parties were gathering in the Elven forest. Hejinmal was lying down on his side while Demiurge prodded him with various pipes hooked up to hoses that had been rigged into a pumping system controlled by the Golem Engine Koriander built. "Is this gonna hurt?" Hejinmal asked looking concerned.

"No." Demiurge replied in a not even remotely reassuring tone of voice.

On nearby tables the lizardmen were being laid down and strapped in while needles leading from the machine were being plugged into their necks by Blue minions.

"Is this gonna hurt?" Genberu asked as he received short jolt from the needle going in. The minion simply smiled and gave him a thumbs up in response before jumping off for parts unknown. "That didn't answer my question." Genberu was silenced as a round piece of wood was shoved into his jaws.

"Miss Koriander, the procedure is ready to begin." Demiurge reported turning around to face Koriander.

"Go ahead." The engine activated, Hejinmal screeched as the pumps activated sucking his insides out of his body and into a large tube continued to screech until said tube was filled. The fat was mixed with a magic potion Koriander had prepared before finally the plunger on the container started to drop, sending the contents of the tube into the bodies of the lizardmen who started to let out muffled screams as the freezing cold liquid entered their bodies. They started to contort as through the holes in the table where their backs are new limbs started to grow out of their bodies and produced a set of large wings. Their bodies white and their wings grown the individuals formerly known as Lizardmen were released from their straps and spat out the gags keeping them from biting their own tongues off.

"Glad that's over with." Zaryusu stated as he cracked a rather sore neck.

"Not quite yet." Demiurge stated prompting the two to freeze up in fear. "There's a matter left of learning the finer details of your new bodies, aside from learning to fly there's also your various racial abilities as well." The two let out sigh's of relief, if it's just more training then that much at least they could handle. "Cocytus, your expertise are needed!" The two froze up again as the huge frosty roach man walked into the area, carrying weapons in each hand.

"What are those for?" Zaryusu asked indicating the weapons Cocytus had on him.

"I. Believe. In. Learning. Through. Experience." Cocytus stated prompting the newly minted Dragon Newts to begin slowly backing away.

"Glad that's over with." Hejinmal stated letting out a sigh of relief.

"What are you talking about?" As Demiurge asked that the next group of lizardmen walked in and assumed the positions hooked into the tables while the Blue Minions helped to get them ready. "We have so many left to transform, and you have so much left to give." Demiurge stated poking the dragon in his inflated and rather soft gut.

"Isn't this the kind of thing that you should be using to punish my father and brother?" Hejinmal asked sounding quite drained.

"They're being skinned alive so that their skin can be used in magic parchment up to the tenth tier. If you'd like to trade places with them then by all means." Demiurge explained and took delight in the way that Hejinmal immediately went silent. "Now that we've settled that matter let us continue with the procedure." Like that, the lizardman tribe slowly disappeared into the sound of a screaming dragon.

* * *

"Someone else has taken control over the Slane Theocracy's territory?" The elf king, a blonde haired heterochromic man who sat half naked on his bed with his head leaning on his fist. "What a surprise. Who is it this time? The empire? The Holy Kingdom? Those demons the animals and the corpses were fighting?" The Elf King looked more like he was merely acknowledging a triviality, by the looks of things he'd much rather go back to the women he had chained up on his bed.

"No. Lizardmen of some kind, they have a dragon with them, and a half elf." One elf, pregnant, stripped naked, and a tally which amounted to 137 written on her side, explained while she held a clip board.

"So my property has finally come back to me eh? Send our forces to retrieve them." The Elf King stated as he returned to the process of getting even more Elves pregnant.

"We tried. But they're not responding to our messages." The pregnant woman stated, before promptly getting silenced via a slap across her face by the king.

"Ingrates every last one of you!" The Elf King walked over to the balcony and snapped his fingers producing a spear of lightning in his hand and chucked it over the horizon. "That should get them in line." The Elf King stated as he didn't even bother looking at his payload and instead returned to the bed.

The pregnant woman looked as behind the already turned back of the Elf King she saw the bolt of lightning let off an explosion that would have leveled a large chunk of the forest, were it not for a magic barrier that blocked the attack that is.

"Yes. I suspect that this invasion will be ended quite soon." The pregnant Elf commented as she got back into the chair.

"Good. Because I don't need to tell you how important it is that I get that woman back." The Elf King long ago figured out that the shortest route to world domination was to build a army of his very own off spring and use them to conquer the world.

Then reality set in, the vast majority of his off spring has proven to be weaklings, but then again their mothers have also proven to be a bunch of weaklings as well, his one success was when he took the woman who was descended from the Theocracy's six gods. Unfortunately the bloodline of a god wasn't something that came by every day. Had that woman not been taken he could have had her produce one of his children every year, twice a year in some cases. Yes she would have died eventually, as she has, but then he would have a legion of off spring that could serve as his army. As a substitute he intended to make use of her daughter that inherited both of their strength and who would last much longer. While thinking about that, the elf king swung his hips back and forth into the womb of the future mother of his child.

* * *

"Was that it?" Koriander asked looking rather disappointed.

When she saw that the Elf King had shot a attack at her she was hoping for a little something... more then that pathetic little attack from the sixth tier.

"Well, he's a small fish after all." Demiurge stated turning to face Koriander. "According to my data, on average a child inherits about half of the power of their parents. Taking Zesshi for example, she's a ninety five, so one of her parents was a hundred and the other a ninety if my guess is correct."

"But humanoids don't inherit power, it's more likely that she simply grew up like us in a harsh kill or be killed environment." Koriander stated letting out a sigh.

"Mistress." Koriander looked outside to see Cocytus who was now standing in the door way of their temporary camp. "There. Are. People. Outside. Who. Want. To. Talk. With. You." The Roachman stated while his latest Dragon Newt punching bags crawled in and passed out.

"Let them in." Koriander stated waving the topic off.

She bore a slight resemblance to Zesshi, like the half elf she had heterocromia of the eyes and hair, but unlike the Theocracy's ace she was a full elf. "Name please."

"Erica Blue Leaf." The Elf stated dressed in only the bare minimal amount of armor of the lowest quality. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"So what brings you to our neck of the woods?" Koriander asked sat across a dinner table from her conversational partner, the leader of the group of Elves who had come to their camp waving a white flag.

"We saw your display of power in blocking the attack from the King." The Elf stated as she took stock of what was going on, chief among them the lizardmen who were being transformed into Dragon Newts and the rapidly slimming dragon who was aiding in the process. "We would like to ask for your assistance in disposing of him."

"Yes. I suppose having a horny psychopathic manchild for a boss isn't all that great, well I not much better." The elf gulped to Koriander's statement. "Then again, I'm not the boss either." Koriander held up her hand and threw up a magic circle in the process she produced a full length crystal mirror, with Balloma's face on the other end.

"Kori. I thought I said to only call me when you've subdued the Elf Nation." Balloma stated sounding rather annoyed.

"Balloma, this is Erica she's here as a representative of the Elven rebellion." Koriander stated gesturing to the elf.

"It's not much of a rebellion, mostly we just view a full scale invasion of our homeland as a opportunity to over throw a insane dictator that gets his jollies from plowing us senseless and sending the resulting off spring off to die against people's he's picked fights with." Erica explained in simple terms. "Given the fact that your sister describes herself as one similar to the King I find myself questioning what we have just done."

Balloma seemed to shoot Koriander a glare through the mirror.

"My sister is a insane psychopath because she replaced all the fluids in her veins with liquefied magical energy. Fortunately she's much more interested in dumping stupid amounts of violence upon the heads of people she doesn't like than actually running a country." Balloma stated as she gave a eye roll. "Leave the issue of cleaning up the mess your King made to me, my sister will get us to that point."

"How?" Erica asked her face twisted in confusion.

"What did the Elf King tell you to do when you got here?"

* * *

"Your majesty." The heavily pregnant attendant for the Elf King stated bluntly. "We've captured the half blood."

"Already?" The Elf King had to make note of the subordinates who made the capture, as they would likely make for good material for his next child. "Bring her in."

Several Elf soldiers dragged the naked body of a woman with black and white hair and unceremoniously dropped her before the King. The Elf King bent down and picked his would be mate up by her chin to make her look him in the eyes, and was surprised when he wasn't met with Zesshi's face.

"Good Afternoon your majesty." As Koriander said that, she held up a illusionary heart in her hand and crushed it, blood spurted out of the Elf King's mouth as he fell to his knees. "So you're resistant to instant death spells eh? I can see why your subordinates think you're invincible." As Koriander said that, a mass of serpentine lightning appeared from her finger. "But this? It ain't a instant death spell." Koriander wiggled her fingers as she smiled at the lightning dancing between her fingers. "Not my favorite Instant death spells. Things are over... instantaneously." Then Koriander started experimenting with new ways to make the Elf King Scream.

* * *

 **Review Section** :

rmarcano321: Knowing that you are overwhelmingly stronger than your verbal sparring partner does make it easier to dictate instructions. Don't worry, they're gonna get one. Tough call. Original Overlord took place in a medieval fantasy so I'd say he and his son was British, Nordberg looks like a Alaska Expy so I'd say that Kelda was American, Juno was dark skinned and lived in the tropics so Jamaican, and Fey was likely of the fairies so Scottish. In total: Kieran is half Brit half American, Balloma is half Brit half Jamaican and Koriander half Brit half Scot. Hope that answers your question.

PervySageChuck: Good to see you're family is feeling better, I look forward to your future news reports.


	46. Chapter 46

**Author's Note** : Not much to say right now, Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy!

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Chapter 46: The Holy Kingdom

The Holy Roble Kingdom was what is commonly known as a hard target. A huge U shaped country divided by the ocean, surrounded on all sides by a thousand mile long wall, each and every one of it's citizen of the nation was trained as a soldier and the Kingdom boasted a army of paladins, it's temples trained priests and clerics who all could cast magics up to the third tier, perhaps the topper was it's Holy Queen Calca Bessarez who was also a divine magic caster. One might think that this was over kill, then you'd take a look at what surrounded those those miles long walls. The Abellon Hills, home of dozens of tribes of Demi-humans: aggressive monstrous beast men each several times stronger than a human and in enough numbers to match the vast population of the holy kingdom. Speaking bluntly, without that wall there was no way they could win against the Demi-humans in a straight up fight. After all their archers and spell casters can simply continuously rain down violence on the heads of those that displease them against any army, the gates created convenient choke points that any Demi-human who got past the bombardment would have to face the army with on average three to one odds. It was for this reason that the wall had to come down.

"Hey Orlando." A corporal was finishing working on his letter of resignation when a sergeant called him over. "You're leaving the army?" The sergeant asked cocking a suspicious brow at his associate.

"Something interesting has appeared haven't you heard?" Corporal Orlando stated as he looked up in the night sky. "A whole new nation has been founded right in the middle of the Katze Plains."

"Between that demon attack on the Re-Estize Kingdom and the Baharuth's invasion attempt both of those nations are in pretty dire straights." Demons, Demi-Humans, Undead, sometimes rolled into one package. "Between the three of them, it sounds about time for a warrior's pilgrimage." Saying that, Orlando looked up to the air and smiled.

"If you wanted to seek out strong opponents you should have done so while the Demi-Humans were still attacking." The sergeant replied letting out a chuckle.

"You say that, but it's not like I could just abandon the wall with the Demi-humans on our doorstep." Corporal Orlando stated letting out a sigh. "'Times for peace should be set aside and used to prepare for times for conflict.' I need to get stronger in preparation for the next wave. I can't do that under the rigid training programs of the Kingdom."

"Then I take it you've heard of their training program?" The Sergeant asked letting out a laugh: Transformation magic, summoning spells and buffing magic. It all sounded ridiculous when you say it all at once, did they have magicians working there twenty four hours a day or something? How does killing something over and over again improve power output? While the two of them were thinking about things like that, the emergency bells started to ring. Demi-Humans were approaching the walls, and not just on one section either: The night was brimming with the sounds of ringing bells, Demi-Humans had come enforce.

"Stop standing around get to your post!" The two men grabbed bows and ran to the front of the wall arrows drawn on the massive hoard Demi-Humans. Sadly although they could see them, they couldn't hit them, least not effectively. Sure they could hit them with their arrows, but the durable bodies of Demi-Humans demand that they apply significant force, they could use terminal velocity to increase the punch behind the arrows, but that requires that their targets are directly below them. "This seems... to be very strange." The sergeant commented looking legitimately surprised. "What are they doing here?"

"They're waiting for the wall to come down!" Orlando stated as he suddenly ran off. From the hoard of Demi-Humans one started to walk forward, not a demi-human in any way shape or form, but rather a demon.

Standing head and shoulders taller than any of his compatriots, a flaming skull for a face, and a set of wings like a dragon, a huge monster that made itself famous during the attack on the Re-Estize Kingdom: Jaldabaoth.

"Hello people of the Holy Roble Kingdom I..." The archers on the wall fired off at the demon all at once, to no avail as their arrows all harmlessly bounced off of the demon's hide. "How rude. I _was_ going to say I am your new ruler." Key word being was. The demon snapped his fingers together and produced a huge ball of fire that picked up and consumed the stone and earth around him until a big molten ball of rock had appeared above him. "Meteor Strike!" The demon chucked that huge ball of molten rock at the wall where the archers had gathered to fire on him and blew them apart, tearing a huge hole into the wall. "Well." The demon turned around to look at the plethora of blood thirsty Demi-Humans who were barely being held back by his orders. "Get them." And thus the dogs of war were unleashed. "Now than if we meet this level of resistance all the way to the capital then the nation should be conquered within the week."

"KYAAAAHAHHHH!" Some human who might be slightly stronger than a worm leaped off of the wall blade drawn trying to stab the demon lord, Jaldabaoth responded by shooting him with a blast of lightning and evaporating that being.

"Within the night." The demon stated feeling compelled to correct his earlier statement.

The Demi-humans did not waste time. The fastest among them, the flight capable ones and the centaurid, sped their way as quickly as possible to the capital spear heading the invasion. The slower ones instead spread out, taking the time to finish off softened defenses and crush the paladin army under their foot prints.

* * *

"We can defeat the Demi-Humans! We've done so before!" The general of the Paladin army stated her tone of firm conviction.

"I don't doubt that Remedios." Calca was a beautiful woman, her spending her free time on skin care type magic no doubt was first and foremost among those reasons, she had the blonde hair and blue eyes that seemed to typify the royal families throughout the continent.

She wasn't lying when she said that she didn't doubt her Paladin General, after all not having the slightest clue as to the strength of her forces would naturally have that effect. She did not partake in the strategy meetings in dealing with the Demi-Human's whose favorite hobby was to try and knock down their front door, she had no way of knowing the strength of the paladin army, the power of the divine magic casters or the true terror of the Demi-humans living on the other side of the wall. She did however understand their cost.

"My more immediate concern is after the invasion has been chased off." Calca measured the attacks by the Demi-humans in gold coins. How much damage to the wall they can do, cost of replacing lost or broken equipment, reviving dead personnel, this would be expensive this time let there be no doubt about that.

"If money's a problem then lets just sell off all the junk from the Demi-humans after we slaughter the lot of em! Right Kelart!?" Remedios stated the look on her face that of someone who can do no wrong.

"Unlike my gun-ho sister over there, I prefer to ply caution to a situation." The head priestess stated as she rubbed her chin. "We need to get Calca away from the invading demi-humans until this mess has been settled down." Kelart was a sharp contrast with her sister in every way bar the way that they looked. She was a priest, and unlike her trigger happy sister a top ranked calculator and strategist on the grand stage of the world. Aside from that both sisters looked nearly identical sharing reddish brown hair and dark brown eyes.

"Kelart you're over reacting! This guy was beaten down by a rag tag bunch of adventurers!" Remedios let out a hardy laugh finding the idea ridiculous. "If a bunch of punks can beat this thing then he's no match for us!"

"Getting back to the main point. It's unlikely we'll be able to recoup our losses from this attack just by selling off the Demihuman's junk. It's all low grade stuff and most of it isn't fitted to a human body: few nations would even want it, and even if they did we need to focus on fixing the wall before we arm other nations to invade." As Kelhart said that she looked outside in the courtyard, the Demi-humans had arrived outside, and Jaldabaoth was leading them. "It's already too late to run." The Demi-humans had already set fire to the capital. The streets were filled with the hairy beasts and the skies clouded with the feathery ones, only those who fought their way out were living to see tomorrow.

"He's not smashing anything and he's looking at us. He may want to Parlay." Kelart pointed out rubbing her chin when the gears in her head whirled with the possibilities. The two sisters escorted their Queen out of the castle, though both of them aimed their instruments of violence at any nearby Demi-Humans who got nearby they never made any overtly hostile actions. Paladins were also flooding into the area, even though they made a effort to protect their superiors Calca still moved through them to get to Jaldabaoth.

"So I assume that you want something Lord Jaldabaoth?" Calca asked fearlessly looking at the demon lord who towered over her with that menacing hateful gaze of his.

"Yes I do." The demon started to inspect each of the three individuals gathered before him. "I would like for you to run a errand for me."

"An errand?" Calca asked looking confused with the request.

"Yes." Jaldabaoth's eyes settled on Remedios. "You'll do."

Saying that, Jaldabaoth suddenly grabbed Calca by her arm and swung her around hard enough to send Remedios flying through the air. The Demon followed up the attack by projecting a number of magic circles in the air punting Remedios even further through the air until she sailed over the wall.

"Now. Let the fun begin!" Saying that, the Demi-Humans rampaged against the Paladins, Jaldabaoth made use of the holy queen as a flail against her own people as his forces trample Roble's Capital underfoot.

After that disastrous battle the southern part of the kingdom took in the refugees from across the bay and rallied their forces enough to hold off the Demi-humans from breaching the bottom of the U shaped country. That said they needed help, desperately so. Hence Remedios as the top most ranked soldier left from the northern half of the Kingdom along with a select entourage of knights were going around the various human kingdoms in search of back up.

* * *

Naturally their first stop was the country that chased Jaldabaoth away the first time, the Re-Estize Kingdom. Remedios, her squire and her adjutant were gathered together and were sat down in front of the members of Blue Rose in the adventurer's guild hall.

"If it was just against the likes of Demi-humans, we could probably serve as a elite unit and do special ops missions or something. But against Jaldabaoth, there is very little we can do against him." Lakyus stated her tone a depressed one.

"What kind of Adamantine Ranked adventurer are you!?" Remedios snapped slamming her hands down on the table. "What was with the talk about a legendary demon blade in your possession!?"

"Adventurer ranks tend to be judged in groups. The five of us work well together have good over all stats and can counteract, eliminate or neutralize most threats. But with against Jaldabaoth what's more important than having a group of reliable people, is a singular person of enough overwhelming power that he can go toe to toe with that monster." Lakyus stated the look on her face being bitter dissatisfaction.

"The most terrifying part about Jaldabaoth is not his power Lakyus." Evil Eye chimed in prompting the others to look at her. "If you can only see Jaldabaoth's power when you look at him then you are only capable of understanding a small fraction of his true horror."

"Care to enlighten us shorty?" Remedios asked causing Evil Eye to glare at her through her mask.

"The true horror of Jaldabaoth is his power to jump between bodies. When one is no longer any good he can just summon another creature and enter that one, he did so during the final moments of the siege on Re-Estize, he likely did so again to escape the capital before we could capture him. Even if you are able to defeat him this time then he'll just keep doing it again and again." Evil Eye stated prompting Remedios's face to further crack in frustration.

"I knew we should have wiped out those animals years ago!" Remedios growled prompting Lakyus and the others to grow dissatisfied with the Paladin. "If you people didn't defeat him who did!?"

"Kieran Ooal Gown and Koriander Ooal Gown." Gagaran stated as she glared at Remedios. "He's a stronger Warrior than you, and she's a stronger mage than your sister."

"Where are they!?" Remedios snapped as she looked between the Adventurers.

"Katze Plains." Gagaran stated as she saw a brown skinned child waving to them.

"They're in that country that has been taken over by monsters?" Remedios asked sounding shocked.

"They're running that Country that has been taken over by monsters." Gagaran corrected causing Remedios's jaw to drop in shock. "Hey Lakyus your sword's back."

"Oh!" Lakyus walked over to the two dark elf children who had a large great sword wrapped up in a cloth for her.

"Damn it!" The group had relegated themselves into their carriage and were now on their way to the next city over. "Damn it! Damn it! DAMN IT!"

"Is something bothering you Remedios?" Gustav the Adjutant asked as he cocked brown colored brows knowingly.

"Damn straight something is wrong! We have to pass through another monster filled country just to ask another nation for help!" Remedios snapped glaring angrily at her aid.

"Do you mean the Baharuth empire?" Gustav asked as he let out a tired sigh.

"Uh... didn't that report say that the Baharuth Empire's army was defeated recently?" The young female squire Neia asked nervously. "Are you sure they're going to be able to spare us any men?"

"You be quiet!" Remedios smacked her squire on the top of her head causing her to hold her head in pain. "They have to give us man power! If the Holy Kingdom falls to the Demi-humans then their nations will be next!" Remedios had a look on her face like her logic was infallible. "I'm not entirely sure about that." Neia stated as she looked out the window. "Oh please these people are just spoiled!" Remedios huffed as she crossed her arms radiating dissatisfaction. "I bet they never had to know the horror of a real war or having to live next to a horde of Demi-Humans!" Remedios stated as the carriage passed by a group of Minions, Lizardmen and Dwarfs who were putting up a statue of Kieran riding on Hamsuke commemorating the end of the annual wars with the Empire. "As soon as we get there mark my words I'll have the empire begging to help us."

* * *

"No." Jircniv stated as he looked through his files with a bored expression on his face.

"What part of 'Giant horde of monsters have taken over the next country over' don't you understand!?" Remedios asked the look on her face that of someone who was slowly losing her sanity.

"None of it. You were quite clear and very loud." Jircniv stated as he used his pinky to drill into his ear before examining the contents of what came out. "What you seem to fail to realize is that our army is still in recovery from a instance of mass brainwashing and enhancement magic. By the time this army you speak of reach our door step my men should be ready to fight again, plus said 'army of monsters' will be worn down fighting you."

"Well don't come crying to us when you have a army of monsters beating down your door!" Remedios stated slamming her hands down on the table.

"You haven't met my new neighbors have you?" Jircniv stated watching his door open behind his esteemed guests. "If you excuse me I have to do something that actually matters now."

"No we will not excuse you! We..." Remedios was silenced by the appearance of a four armed elder lich carrying a huge stack of paper work.

"Here's the latest report from the research center you wanted." The Elder Lich stated putting the paper on the desk.

"I seem to recall hiring you to reduce my work load." Jircniv stated sizing up the stack up and down.

"Sir Fluder insists that 'Paper Work is my favorite part of the day' ever since he started doing research with the Elf Woman." The Elder Lich stated letting out a long suffering sigh. And then Remedios's holy sword slammed down on top of the undead who blocked it with a magic barrier.

"I suggest you discontinue that course of action immediately." Jircniv stated directing a disinterested gaze towards Remedios.

"YOU HAVE SOME GALL TO WALK SOME LOWLY UNDEAD GARBAGE IN FRONT OF ME!" Remedios screeched at the top of her lungs.

"That's right your people interpret the undead as the number one threat to humanity. I had assumed that since you managed to walk all the way over here that you had manage to overcome your hatred of the undead considering the city streets are absolutely swarming with them." Jircniv stated wondering why she didn't have this reaction outside.

"WHY ARE THERE UNDEAD SWARMING THE CITY STREETS OUTSIDE!?"

"They're actually quite useful speaking frankly: Low tier skeletons can serve as cheap labor, the elder liches like this are highly intelligent and don't need food or rest, various warrior types are strong enough to curb stomp entire armies. They're on loan from our neighbors to the east." Jircniv explained before his voice and face both took on hard tones. "Now put that thing away or You'll learn to get along with them the hard way when a group of them comes in here and tears your head off and have you join their ranks as a death squire."

* * *

 **Review Section** :

rmarcano321: Well you're not wrong, the ochestra is always on the lookout for new members. Yes I said that already. Hard to say, after this arc has concluded I will have exhausted my supply of pre-existing overlord story arcs.


	47. Chapter 47

**Author's Note** : Well I'm sick as of yesterday, so don't expect much from me for the next week. Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy!

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Chapter 47: 'Negotiations'

It was a long morning for the Roble Delegation, on top of a long night, which was on top of a long day, which in turn had been stacked on a long week and a long brutal battle. And all of it was made even longer by the head of their Paladin Order Remedios. After being dragged around three countries by the overly enthusiastic guard captain blissfully ignorant to the sheer number of undead, demons and demi humans that had surrounded them the group finally arrived here. In a jail cell. After having the fact that they had been crisscrossing a newly founded land of monsters for several days pointed out to them Remedios spun around and attacked the first one that she could get her hands on. Which as they were having a meeting with the emperor of the Baharuth Empire at the time meant that the poor Elder Lich in question was his assistant. This excessively foolish course of action immediately landed the three of them in the dungeon. For their own safety Gustav and Neia were isolated away from Remedios who was doing her best enraged howler monkey impression. More undead came down later and placed something that resembled a fold up throne on the floor in front of their cells, soon a dark skinned woman with swirl tattoo's was seated in it and proceeded to scowl at the three of them.

"You! Are you Responsi-!" A dart was lodged in Remedios's throat and she immediately went as stiff as a board.

"Gorgon Venom." Balloma explained holding up the blow dart pipe that she used to incapacitate Remedios. "I don't like children. But I despise adults who act like children." Balloma explained while she turned her attention to the next cell.

"Might we ask your name?" Gustav asked witnessing the danger that this woman presents.

"The people of this country refers to me as the Emperor's Mistress." Balloma explained as she gave the blow pipe to one of the undead. "You may call me Balloma."

"Greetings miss Balloma. I'm afraid our Paladin captain is a bit..." Gustav looked at the form of the Paladin leader who was frozen in that insane position of trying to rip the bars off of the cell door with her bare hands. "I don't care about matters concerning paladins, why are you here?" Balloma asked as she put her chin into the palm of her hand.

"We came to this country to ask for help in dealing with a large scale invasion of Demi-Humans, they breached our wall and are occupying the northern half of our country." Gustav explained as he eyes naturally wandered to the undead assistants.

"Sounds like a wonderful opportunity." Balloma commented prompting a look of disbelief from the two paladins.

"Excuse me!?" Gustav was stunned with Balloma's remark.

"Your country has a history of plying genocide to anything stronger than yourselves with the bare minimal of excuses. For starters I understand that you are responsible for there no longer being wide spread demons on this continent, in spite of the fact that it is literally impossible for a demon to come to this world unless they have been forcibly gang pressed into the service of another via summoning magic. Then you back the undead into a corner to the point that there is only a few places on the continent that they can be found in any great numbers, in spite of the fact that they only appear unless someone has massacred the people that they use to be in mass, a fairly common occurrence as I understand it, and yet in spite of the fact that they've been forced into such a unnatural state you still see fit to make them suffer even more. And last I checked your 'holy army' maintains a policy of putting your prisoners to the sword, including infants and children, at any given opportunity, in spite of the fact that you should be safe behind your great big walls. From my standpoint anyone who spends their days constantly picking fights with people who are vastly stronger then they are deserve to be wiped out." Loosing interest in this conversation Balloma examined her nails in search of dirt.

"They raid our kingdoms for our people to devour them whole!" Gustav snapped glaring at Balloma hatefully.

"Are you a vegetarian?" Balloma glanced up and down her verbal sparring partner. "Given your overall muscle mass I'm going to bet not. Perhaps if you were willing to do trade with your so called enemy they wouldn't be resorting to raiding your pathetic little country in search of food. Perhaps after your little Kingdom has burned to the ground we can convince them that not all humans are genocidal child murdering lunatics and enter peaceful relationships with them. I'm sure I can hand over her for some browny points." Balloma stated indicating Remedios. "Good day." Saying that Balloma got up to leave to the three holy knights to their fate.

"Jaldabaoth was leading the Demi Human army!" As if Neia finally said something interesting, Balloma turned around to face her.

"Is that it?" Balloma asked in a disinterested tone of voice. The foreigner interpreted Neia's silence as a yes. "I see."

Balloma grabbed one of the skeleton attendants by his neck bones and pulled him over to whisper in what approximated to his ear.

"Right Away Madam." Saying that Balloma and the skeleton left leaving behind the three Holy Kingdom envoy's.

* * *

Balloma was not the only one within Empire boarders that day, a massive ruckus was going on in the middle of the arena right now as the arena champion was fighting against a new opponent today. The champion was known simply as the Martial Lord Go Gin, a War Troll like Guu, except that this one had a actual brain to match his might. In the interest of growing stronger Go Gin rampaged around the countryside making a giant pest of himself against the empire skirmishing with their patrols. However one day he met his sponsor Osk, a talent scout for fresh meat to toss into the grinder known as the Empire's arena. He convinced the troll that is where the strongest warrior's in the empire gathers, he spent about a third of his life's savings building high quality magic resistant armor for the troll and a giant metal club, he paid for Martial Arts instructors to give the troll extensive training on the subject in the interest of driving his abilities to the utmost limit. In terms of pure, brutal ability to end the lives of his opponent, he was vastly stronger then the four elites who guards the emperor combined.

And his opponent, a Adamantine ranked adventurer who was responsible for defeating the Undead invasion of E-Rantle and the demonic invasion of Re-Estize and who was rapidly shaping up to be the new guild master of both the Baharuth Empire and The Re-Estize Kingdom's combined, Kieran Ooal Gown. For this occasion, Kieran, who was vastly stronger than the Martial Lord, had to make a few concessions for the fight: No Martial Arts, no weapons, and he only wore a pair of silk pants into the arena. For now the two walked up to each other and sized one another up.

"It is a honor to meet you great adventurer." Go Gin commented look at Kieran in the eye.

"And a pleasure to meet you noble troll." Kieran commented smirking knowingly. "You're a little different then the last War Troll. I met. At least you understand manners."

"Yes, I suppose that my kind has a natural predisposition towards violence don't we?" Go Gin stated letting out a sigh. "So you've met another War Troll eh? Maybe when-no... after our bout I would like to go meet them." Go Gin commented choosing not to ignore every instinct in his body that was screaming danger at him.

"I can arrange that. This miss knows resurrection magic so you can go meet them after I kill you." Kieran stated gesturing to Naberal who was standing on the edge of the arena with a bath robe for Kieran.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" The War Troll laughed his head off at that statement. "Offering to revive a opponent that you intend to fight to the death? I must thank my manager again after we're done here." As if trying to manage his excitement the Troll started to tap his weapon in the palm of his hand. "I definitely want to go meet your trolls now. Do they know Martial Arts?"

"Yeah, we taught them how to be monks." Saying that Kieran walked away from the martial lord before turning around to face him again. "Is this far enough away for the match to begin now?" Asking that, Kieran looked to the person holding up a large club and standing next to a gong he struck that huge metal plate letting out a loud ringing sound.

Kieran ran forward towards the Martial Lord, every fiber of the troll's being told him he would die unless he slammed his weapon down in front of him with all his might and so he did just that. Kieran stopped just before that weapon came down and instead climbed on top of it, ran up it's shaft to create a second ringing noise and Kieran punched the Troll's helmet hard enough to make people think the gong had sounded again. The Troll didn't look bothered by the sound of a gong going off in his ear, as he reached up and grabbed hold of Kieran to toss him back into the ground, Kieran's response was to kick the hand as he climbed on board of the troll's back.

"I commend your efforts!" Saying that, Go gin slammed his weapon into his own back in a effort to swat Kieran away only for the Overlord Candidate to drop off completely having negotiated his way to his goal.

Kieran stabbed his bare hand into the side of the troll's armor where the overlapping metal in his armor had been bolted together and began prying it apart with his bare hands in the interest of getting at the troll's insides.

"HAHAHAHAHA!"

The Troll laughed as he swung his club around to attack Kieran again and in response Kieran slammed the weapon with a upper cut causing the troll to hit himself in his face with his weapon. The troll stumbled away still laughing.

"HAHA! You're pretty fast. I hear you wear heavy armor everywhere you go, it must slow you down a lot!" The troll stated and he reset his position to attack again.

"All the debuff spells stuffed into it probably has something to do with it." Kieran stated as he cracked his neck.

"So you're actually weaker with your armor on?" The troll asked legitimately surprised.

"Well it's adamantine, so I suppose it can take a bit of a beating." Kieran stated shrugging his shoulders.

"Adamantine?" Go Gin asked looking surprised.

"I did say the word stuffed right?" Kieran asked as he bolted forward again.

The Future Overlord Slammed his fist into the fist of Go Gin as he used his weapon to block Kieran. A satisfying crunch echoed as Kieran slammed both of his arms into the troll's hand knocking his weapon out of it before Kieran picked it up. Using his own body as a fulcrum Kieran slammed his opponents weapon into him as he demonstrated brute force that should by and large impossible to swing that two handed club that was built for a troll against it's former master. Finally the troll managed to catch his weapon again, but Kieran merely used it as a distraction to dive past the troll's defenses and finish ripping off the trolls armor, plunging his fingers into the metal and wiping it away in the same way one might a old napkin.

"HAHAHAHA! I'd expect nothing less from someone who considers Adamantine a downgrade!" Saying that the troll prepared to swing his club again. However the blow was stopped not by Kieran but rather Nabe.

"What is it?" Kieran asked looking deeply annoyed. Nabe held up a small mirror to Kieran, as Kieran recalled something that Koriander had enchanted with the crystal mirror and message spell to serve as a means of long distance communication. "Great." Message spells tend to get lost in translation the further out they go, for this reason Kieran and his sisters had worked out a series of codes to send the message along with the least amount of data sent. In this case it consisted of three letters, JDB, Jaldabaoth. "Sorry about this Go Gin but I'm afraid I'm going to have to cut this short." Kieran stated giving the mirror back to the Doppleganger Monk. "You've got five minuets of the serious me."

"That is very promising!" With that Go Gin raised his weapon above his head to crush Kieran. "GAAHH!" Kieran slammed his fist into Go Gin's leg with enough force that the appendage with enough force that it was bent at a angle, however the Troll stubbornly brought his weapon down on Kieran's head, Kieran countered by slamming both of his fists into one of the troll's arms with enough force to break his arm and force it at another odd angle. "So this is you at your serious level." Go Gin commented looking at Kieran with a smirk.

"You didn't think I was going to go all out before I did some stretches did you?" Kieran asked cocking a suspicious brow.

"I thought you were holding back before, but you still are now aren't you? I want to see it!" Go Gin stated excitedly. "I want to glimpse the height of your power!"

"First the skeleton Geezer now this guy." Kieran stated letting out and exasperated sigh. "What is with this country and it's obsession with getting curb stomped?" Kieran turned around around to face his sparring partner again. "You do realize that violates the spirit of the deal we made right?"

"I DON'T CARE I WANNA SEE IT! I WANNA TASTE THAT POWER WITH MY BODY!" "Huu." Kieran hung his head in defeat. Facing the troll Kieran clenched his fist and concentrated a green energy into it as the wind started to circle it, Green was stacked with Brown as dirt joined like a sand storm, water gathered with blue, red ignited fire, gold produced bright light, and darkness consumed it all.

"Sorry for keeping you. This is a taste of my real power." Saying that Kieran closed the distance in a instant and slammed his fist into the Troll's chin with a upper cut.

A loud explosion sounded as the energy from Kieran's attack that was similar to Sexta Giga, Sexta Spica, made a mushroom cloud above the empire's arena. A huge mangled mass of super heated flesh and metal dropped to it's knees in front of Kieran while he turned around to leave.

"Lovely, I finally find someone who can take a hit for a change and that damned demon has to show up and ruin it!" Kieran stated as he put on a robe provided to him by Nabe. "Revive that troll and send him off to the adventurer's guild." Saying that Kieran used a rug that had the transportation magic engraved on it and used it to send him off to their head quarters.

* * *

Koriander was in the Empire's Research lab examining the fruits of their research: right now she was trying to blend together elements of rune crafting and enchantments to achieve a new level of power. Runes could channel a larger amount of magical power but made use of crude and unrefined power, enchantments could only channel small amounts of power but refined that to it's peak. Right now their prototype was a blade that was originally made in two pieces, the part with the handle having the fire rune and the head of the blade having a fire enchantment. Like with the phenomena of a large pipe which fed into a small one to build up water pressure, the idea was to generate a high pressure burst of magical energy using this combination of magics. Helping Koriander in her research was the undead Fluder and the still fully living Gondo.

"I'm not okay with this." The Dwarf stated expressing his opinion with arms crossed. "You aren't the first one to try and blend the elements of Rune Crafting and Enchantments together. The two warp and twist each other to the point of uselessness."

"But if we understand the direction of that uselessness we can compensate... In theory." Fluder replied as they examined their creation.

"Ignoring that matter this structural integrity is garbage. One good hit and it'll break in two." Gondo stated swinging blade about.

"Well at the moment we are aiming for proof of concept more then practicality." Fluder stated stroking that long beard of his.

"Good cause this thing isn't 'practical' in the least bit!" Gondo stated his face that of someone who held a very low opinion of what was in front of him.

"For now, all we need is a test subject, or rather a target." While saying that Fluder and Gondo looked over to see one of the wooden Golems that was stocking the shelves for books. While the two plotted and schemed Yuri walked up to Koriander and whispered something in her ear.

"Excuse me as I fail to decipher your whims you two, but something of rather great importance has come up so I leave the two of you to your schemes." Saying that Koriander left with the maid, as a loud and fiery explosion indicated the destruction of a sword and the death of a golem.

* * *

"The hell is this about Balloma?" Kieran asked as he paced around the meeting room deeply annoyed. "I was in the middle of beating a perfectly wonderful troll to death!"

"Excuse me as I interrupt your fun but this takes slightly more of a priority." Balloma stated as her voice dripped with sarcasm.

"Hello my siblings!" Que Koriander coming from the rear in her overly happy tone of voice. "What cha doing?"

"Debating how we're going to take apart Jaldaboth now that he's popped his ugly mug out of hiding again." Balloma stated prompting Koriander to smile.

* * *

 **Author's Note** :

rmarcano321: Thank you for Saying so. Death, destruction, fire raining from the sky dead walking the streets, usual apocalyptic spiel.

PervySageChuck: Oh I'll do you one better: Where do you think they're getting the bodies to reanimate?


	48. Chapter 48

**Author's Note** : Okay not sick anymore so that's a good thing, any case I hope you guys enjoy. Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 48: A Meeting With Paladins

Remedios alongside her two co conspirators Neia Baraja and Gustav were brought before Kieran, Balloma and Koriander who were seated upon thrones in the lounge of one of the Empire's guest suites. Cocytus used his vastly larger sized and additional limbs to force the three to bow down, only Remedios was held in place by the giant roach man.

"First thing is first, we owe you our thanks for finding Jaldabaoth for us." Balloma stated her jaw on her fist while she looked down on the three. "As thanks we offer two options: First, we storm into your kingdom, we perform the usual rape pillage and burn that our father was famous for until we've exterminated both your genocidal country and Jaldabaoth's forces to the last."

"IS THAT YOUR IDEA OF A OFFER!-MMPH!" Cocytus silenced the snarling paladin by stuffing a rag into her mouth.

"Unfortunately if we do that then Jaldabaoth will definitely escape our grasp and come back to harass us later. Which leads to option two: with your aid and advanced warning to your forces we sneak through Jaldabaoth's camps sabotaging his war campaign and freeing your people bit by bit Until he is dead and your country is being run in a manner we deem satisfactory." Balloma explained letting out a long and deep sigh.

"Grr...!" Remedios could only growl in response in her current state.

"I would like to point out that we offer these options as a courtesy: the concept of Jaldabaoth running around doing as he pleases is simply intolerable to the three of us. Had it been left to a vote then these two would have both chosen to burn both sides of your little conflict to the ground by now, I however convinced them to take the more strategically sound option of allying with you and making use of your knowledge and resources for a approach that won't result in the escape of our grand father's murderer." Balloma's exhausted tone of voice and the amount of time the three spent in the dungeon after they last met her conveyed just how long and drawn out this process was.

"Patoo!" Remedios spat out the cloth that had been shoved in her mouth as she glowered at the three. "If you think that-"

"You can shut up!" Balloma stated in a cold and unyielding tone one might use to address a particularly stubborn child. "If I wanted to hold a conversation with a stubborn psychopathic man child I would hang out with these two." Balloma stated indicating her siblings. "I was making the offer to the responsible one over there." On that Note, Gustav was picked up by the scruff of his shirt and placed in his feet.

"To clarify, our options are to let you help defeat Jaldabaoth, or we'll make a enemy out of you as well?" Gustav asked cocking a eye suspiciously at Balloma.

"Your options are for you and yours to get out of our way or we'll get them out of our way for you." Kieran stated his tone of voice indicating this talk was over.

"We accept your terms. We'll send advance notice to our forces of your arrival." Gustav stated as Kieran nodded to Cocytus who undid Gustav's and Neia's restraints. "Should we discuss the co-ordination of our forces then, as per your terms?" Gustav stated choosing to ignore the howling his commanding officer was no doubt trying to make as they speak.

"Lets." Balloma stated as she led the group into a room with a large round table in the center. "Chief and foremost among the making or war is the proper use of intelligence gathering. Our enemy in this instance are demi-humans, therefore I propose we make use of demi-humans." Balloma stated as she sat down in the chair.

"You bitch! You-!" Remedios was silenced again, this time by Cocytus slamming her into the wall of the meeting room hard enough to leave a rather large gap inside of it.

"Cocytus, get a lich down here to fix that." Balloma stated prompting the roach man to bow his head before he turned around and left.

"I believe my colleague was saying that she's mildly concerned we would only be reinforcing Jaldabaoth's front." Gustav stated translating what he suspect his superior intended to say after she was done insulting their gracious hosts.

"A valid concern were it not for the eggs." Balloma stated causing a look of befuddled confusion on Gustav's face.

"Eggs?" The Paladin adjutant asked his face screwed in confusion. "The individuals I am referring to have recently laid a clutch of eggs. They will be more than trustworthy for the purposes I am thinking of." Balloma stated letting the implications connect in the heads of Gustav and Neia.

"You wouldn't...?"

"We _despise_ traitors." Balloma stated in a tone of voice that implied she was talking about garbage. "Jaldabaoth is a traitor, a prominent one yes, but the fact that we are going to war for the purpose of making an example out of him should speak volumes on the subject. They understand this, they will not willfully invoke our wrath."

"Understood." Gustav stated nodding his head nervously. "All citizens of our country are trained as warriors. If we free them they will be able to fight."

"Not very likely." Balloma stated rolling her eyes.

"Excuse me?" Gustav asked looking like he had just been insulted.

"If your people could fight they wouldn't have been captured. That was before they were captured by the enemy." Kieran explained his head leaning against his fist.

"Giving your prisoners only the bare minimal of food and water to keep them alive is a good way of preventing any unwanted uprisings. Assuming that is they haven't been eaten by now." Koriander shrugged dismissively with a smirk. "The Demi-Humans regard your people as cattle do they not?" A elder lich came into the room and went to work on putting Remedios back together again, Neia took the opportunity to run out of the room in distress.

"Even with the use of our health potions and vast stocks of food the matter of getting them over there takes some time." Balloma stated shaking her head in displeasure. "If we make use of transportation magic circles we risk leaving open a path into our own territory and that is also unacceptable. Aside from that we could make use of carriages that haul the produce via our Golem engine, but we run the risk them being intercepted by the Demi-humans." Balloma stated as she thought over the logistics, then she had an idea as she turned to face Koriander while cocking a interested brow.

"Hmm. I could devise a clever little one way transport type magic circle." Koriander replied doing jazz hands. "We won't be able to evacuate here of course, but personnel and resources would be at our finger tips basically twenty four seven."

"We need a way to communicate too, I'm not fond of the idea of the magic circle getting captured and our forces supplying the enemy." Balloma replied as she crossed her arms.

"Oh how diligent of you." Gustav commented feeling left out of this conversation.

"That's one word for it." Kieran suddenly stood up and straightened out his back. "I'm going to go bully the adventurer's for a while, call me when we're ready to leave." Saying that Kieran walked out of the room and tossed Neia over his shoulders like a potato sack and grabbed Remedios by the scruff of her collar while he was at it.

"Hey Wait! Where are you Taking Me!?"

* * *

Outside of the courtyard, loud explosions were ringing in people's ears.

"Evil Smite!" Remedios used her sword to cut down one of the skull boars in a flash of light, to literally zero effect. "WHAT!?"

"Evil Smite only works on malevolent entities." Kieran stated shaking his head in displeasure. "That is a brainless summon, it is literally incapable of malice."

"UGH! What kind of training is this!? Don't you people have a demon wandering around here that I kill or something!?" Remedios snapped angrily stomping her foot in Kieran's general direction.

"Haaa..." Kieran on the other hand could only face palm with his big metal gauntlet. "This is the reason why you're only a paladin on this level." Saying that Kieran slammed his fist into the head of a nearby skull bull with enough force that it's skull disappeared into it's torso. Having successfully vented his stress Kieran prepared a tone normally reserved for lecturing small children. "You assume that because something is a demon, or a demi human, or a undead, or is simply not human that it is evil and the world would be better off without them. Well I have a news flash for you, that ghoul over there?" Kieran stated indicating the Death Knight who was standing guard outside of a bank. "It was made using the corpse of a criminal, he murdered twelve people, raped six women, ate three children and thus was hung from a rope by the neck until he was dead. He attained that form through the use of magic so dark and twisted it would make your toe nails curl. These days he stands there staring people down and takes them out when they cause trouble, it is a brainless monster capable of only violence and following orders, and it is a better person then you will ever be!" Remedios slapped her gauntlet against Kieran's face only to be stopped by his hand. "Those monsters you despise invaded your little kingdom and slaughtered your people because they had a Demon Lord breathing down their neck: what's your excuse for charging into there's and slaughtering them?"

"Evidently..." Remedios attempted to pry her arm free of Kieran's grasp. "Not. Enough!"

"Huu." Kieran decided that simply giving up on this woman was the best option for them, and so tossed her into the air and into a pit full of skull rats. "Alright, now is there anyone here remotely worth our time?" While muttering that Kieran saw Neia who was trying to swing around a sword at a skull rat who was properly dodging her attacks. "Great another one." Saying that Kieran walked over, kicked the Skull Rat out of his way, and sat down in front of Neia.

"What are you trying to do?" Neia turned around and aimed her weapon at Kieran.

"The hell did you get to be a squire fighting like that?"

"Th-that's none of your business!" Neia snapped glaring at Kieran.

"Oh for the love of..." Kieran walked over to a weapons rack and picked up a bow and a quiver of arrows.

"Here." Kieran tossed the items in question at Neia's feet. "People who can't swing a sword should fight at a distance. Based on my understanding of the enemies numbers accuracy shouldn't be much of a problem."

"Huu." Neia let out a sigh looking at the bow.

"Problem?" Kieran asked noticing the sigh.

"It's not to my preference."

"I'll be sure to have it inscribed on your tombstone." The red lights of the visor on Kieran's helmet intensified his glare. "After we figure out where the Demi-human's have shit you out at that is."

"Huu." He really hit the nail on the head.

"Charging at the enemy and sacrificing your life might do your comrades some good. But if you just die stupidly without taking anyone with you then what good have you done exactly?" Kieran asked as he crossed his arms.

"Aim and Fire!" Saying that, Neia notched an arrow.

Normally a beginner would take longer before firing a arrow, but Neia immediately loosed one into the head of the nearest Skull Rat and it soon fell over dead. Beginners luck or so one would think. Then three more Skull rats fell in as many arrows. Two more made the mistake of conveniently lining up and were felled in one collective blow.

"What were you doing trying to swing a sword around exactly?" Kieran asked wondering where the incompetent swords woman from a couple of minuets ago went.

"Paladins don't..."

"What are you doing with that!?" Remedios, ever the enduring little dog, got up from her little trip and stormed over to Neia and took the bow out of her hand. "A real paladin would never do something as dishonorable as shooting at a opponent while they're out of range of their weapon!"

Kieran had officially grown tired of hearing this woman's voice, and so got up and loomed over her.

"Speak of honor after you acquire some." Saying that, Kieran slammed his fist into Remedios's face and sent her flying into the nearest wall. "Heal her. Slowly." A Skull Dear nodded to Kieran's command as it went over to tend to the paladin. If she would not train then it was better for everyone that she be incapacitated until their trip started. "Which is more honorable? Fighting for your own glory, or to protect your allies? Instead of stifling your own potential to fall in line with someone else's ideals, live, live and fight for what you believe in the best way that you can." In that moment, a chord had been struck inside of Neia. A familiar feeling, or was it one that she had simply imagined, what she thought the leader of the paladin order was like when she was first told that she would become her squire. "If you have time to galk like that then shoot something." Kieran stated as he turned to face the nearest Skull Boar. "We have too much work to be doing nothing."

"Yes Sir!" That day many Skull Rats died.

* * *

 **Author's Note** :

rmarcano321: That he was. Better, I can breathe through my nose again. Find something to read to prod me along.

PervySageChuck: Let's just say for now that a policy has been implemented where people who complain about having their jobs stolen get them back. They don't complain anymore.


	49. Chapter 49

**Author's Note** : Not much to say right now, gonna go read some shield hero manga. Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 44: The Holy Roble Alliance

The three Overlords rode all the way to the Southern Holy Roble Kingdom via the combination of high class luxury carriages tied to one another from the Baharuth empire and the Golem Engine designed by Koriander. They had stopped several times already, at which point in time Koriander would get out, get her brother to beat a staff with a flaming skull mounted on top into the ground with his big metal fist that was like a hammer, then get back in and move on to the next location. Remedios complained about the frequent stops, usually after she's emptied the contents of her stomach on the road, but Koriander would simply reply that it was a vital part of their plan, and that she was driving.

"Um. Not that I'm complaining but, what are those for?" Neia asked pointing to the staffs that Koriander prepared.

Neia, as the only one among the delegation that the three of them could actually stand she was stationed as their liaison to the forces of the Katze Coalition.

"Glad you asked!" Koriander commented noting that unlike her superior Neia actually asked her what she was doing. "These little guys are undead called Effigies, I've equipped them with message spells. I message them, they send the message to the next one in the chain until they get back to our base. With any luck this will solve the long distance break down of the Message spell." In order to test the system Koriander choose to message the skull in question.

"Wow! That actually sounds pretty impressive!" Neia stated all wide eyed. "Remedios said that Calca did magical research too!"

"What kind?" Koriander asked sounding quite interested.

"Ah... Skin care." Neia compared the two in her head, a way of nailing long distance communication or advanced and radiant skin care, the latter sounding far less impressive then the first.

"Oh I might like to get my hands on that." Koriander had held out her arm featuring the same swirling pattern as Balloma's. "My tats have been driving me crazy lately, must be the cold air around this time of year."

"You have cold resistance hard wired into your body Koriander stop trying to make her feel better." Balloma stated glaring coldly at her sister.

"Spoiled sport." Koriander muttered while she looked out the window. Koriander made a crystal mirror appear to interpret the message she received from Nazarick.

"Mary had little lamb and it's fleece was white as snow." Demiurge stated on the other side of the message, having just repeated what was sent to him by Koriander perfectly she gave a fist pump in response.

"Is there something about this conversation that I might find remotely interesting?" Balloma asked turning to face Neia.

"Uh... I remember that Calca was being talked about being a highly progressive Queen." Neia replied scratching her chin.

"What policies has she implemented to earn that title?" Balloma asked legitimately curious.

"Uhh... I remember hearing her talk about forging peace with the Demi-Humans." Neia stated thinking about after a minuet.

"How has she gone about doing that? You're suppose to be the apprentice to the general of the army aren't you?" Balloma asked cocking a suspicious brow at the squire.

"Uhh..." Neia legitimately couldn't think of any policies crossing Remedios's desk from the queen.

"For Ainz's sake..." Balloma face palmed before she continued. "Tell me something. Is Calca the first 'Queen' of the country?"

"What do you mean?" Neia asked her face twisted in confusion.

"Is she the first woman in charge of your country?" Balloma asked getting slightly more direct to the point.

"Yes." Neia asked not entirely sure what Balloma was talking about.

"I see. I would like to propose a thought experiment." Balloma stated looking Neia directly in her eye. "If you changed Calca's gender how significant would her impact on history be?"

"Ah..." Neia drew a blank at that question. "She's one of the most powerful spell casters in the world."

"Then she should be in the army around the mid guard dumping attack spells on the enemy and buffing your vanguard." Balloma stated as she was already tired of this conversation.

"You say that, but Remedios says she's too soft for combat." Neia replied while she mentally re-evaluated her queen.

"Then an ambassador, someone who goes out and figures out what the peace she desires is going to demand." Balloma stated as she let out a sigh. "Forget it. I'm tired of this conversation."

The carriage eventually arrived at the southern half of the Holy Roble Kingdom. Gustav explained a version of what they intended to do to the southern officials, obviously he didn't tell them that they had drafted a combination necromancer/diabolist and a pumped up monster in human form, or if he did and this was set up for a trap they were quite prepared. The carriage had an integrated adamantine frame built directly into it, enchanted with Koriander's barrier and magic nullification magics, if these people see this as a opportunity to attack them then two things will happen, the first is that it will fail, and the second is that they will have officially give up the right not to be beaten into the ground. However in spite of their preparations that accounted for the worst possibility they still made it to the co-ordinates in the north that Remedios gave them.

"Where's your base? Is there a secret trap door we need to open? Some magic that we have to take out of the picture?" As Kierian asked that Remedios recovered her composure and simply entered the nearest building. "Oh that isn't good." Kieran stated observing their completely exposed and protected building that is supposed to be their base of operations. "I've got some things to take care of, you two start the meeting without me."

Balloma and Koriander were led inside of the building with what distinctly looked like the leaders of what was left of the Holy Roble army.

"Are these the back up you promised us?" A nobleman stated looking at Balloma and Koriander.

"Close, I'm the door knocker." Koriander stated as she got out a piece of chalk and crouched down to the floor and began drawing a magic circle on it.

"Ah..."

"Let her work." Gustav stated in a coolly neutral tone of voice.

Once Koriander was finished on the floor she hopped back to her feet and focused magic into her creation, and soon three crates of food stacked on top of one another made their presence known in a flash of magical light.

"Tada~!" Koriander stated making Jazz hands at the stack of crates. "Pretty cool right!"

"You can use this magic to bring us supplies?" One of the leaders asked looking at Koriander suspiciously.

"Ah ha! Once we get a new base of operations I can begin funneling in troops too!" Koriander stated much to the confusion of those they were suppose to protect.

"A new base?" One of the leaders asked looking at the pair suspiciously.

"This one is compromised you need a new one." Balloma stated as she tapped a finger and her arm.

"What are you talking about? This area is secure we checked it ourselves!" One of the leaders stated looking offended.

"Two things, the first is that zero precautions have been taken to hide the location of this one and the second is..." Suddenly the head of a Zoastra was slammed through the wall with enough force to shake the whole building, before promptly being ripped out again. "Rather self explanatory I hope."

Looking out through the hole Neia saw Kieran ragdolling the Zoastra and using it as a bludgeon against other Demi-humans.

"We're under attack! Everyone get outside now!" Remedios shouted before pulling out her sword.

On instinct Neia went to pull out her sword, but instead Koriander passed her a bow and quiver full of arrows. Kieran threw his makeshift bludgeon at a group of enemies and knocked them all down.

"Stand aside!" Remedios rushed in and pointed her blade at the pile of monsters. "EVIL SMITE!" A beam of light came down from the sky in a overly dramatic manner, causing the ground to shake and the air to blow away from the sight of the impact. After a few seconds the light died down and the Demi-humans were unharmed, on the contrary by the looks of things they had used the attack as a smoke screen to get back on top of their feet. "What trickery is this!?" Remedios snapped distinctly recalling that she had sunk extra power into her attack. Towards this end, Kieran turned her around to face him and picked her up by her hair to have her look him directly in the eye.

"They. Are. Not. Evil!" While Kieran was putting Remedios's problem to her in as slow and as simple terms that he could muster, a huge whistling mass of wind shot pass them and hit the Demi-Humans letting off a loud explosion in the process taking out the whole group of Demi-Humans.

"Nice bow." Kieran commented looking at the weapon Neia was holding which suspiciously resembled a Rune crafted bow he took from the Dragon's lair.

"I got it from your sister." Neia commented as Koriander smirked knowingly.

Fluder and Gondo, under Koriander's orders, had been experimenting with combining rune crafting and enchantments ever since Kieran got back from the mountain. As a work around to the effects of Rune magic and Enchantments canceling each other out the conclusion they reached was a two part weapon which brought them to what Koriander had called the Shooting Star Bow, which was little more than a bow equipped with several wind type runes which fired arrows that had been enchanted to set things on fire that they hit. The pin point pressure of enchantment channeled the dense mass of concentrated air of rune magic and ultimately resulted in a high pressure explosion of devastating power.

"It looks like a our idea of a two part weapon was a huge success!" Koriander stated clapping her hands while bouncing happily. "The next step should be a 'three part!'"

"How bout before you give the rest of them any more ideas we do something about this base situation?" Balloma asked tapping her foot in annoyance. "Don't worry: there's a spell for that!" Koriander stated as she rubbed her hands together.

"First I will scout a more secure location." Saying that Koriander floated up high into the air via fly magic and made a show out of scanning the horizon before finding what she deemed to be a satisfactory location and coming back down. "Next I will use a gate spell to bring us to our new base." At once a sinister looking red and black portal opened and Koriander gestured for those present to enter.

"Not on your life!" Remedios stated as she attempted to pry herself free of Kieran. "You three probably lured them here!"

"Yes we did, but only because we followed your instructions." Saying that Kieran, who had grown tired of her back talk, chucked her through the portal. "One way or you're another you're going through that portal!"

The officials arrived on the other side of the portal, only a few willingly, to their surprise they were treated with the sight of a vast empty field.

"Where's the base you promised us!?" One of the officials growled. "I haven't built it yet." Koriander produced several magic circles that floated around her in perfect synchronization.

"Magic Ms. Ooal Gown? But you need to preserve your reserves when we engage Jaldabaoth's forces!" Neia protested as she watched Koriander cast her spell.

"Super Tier kid, she's not using her own reserves she's manipulating the magical energy all around her." Kieran stated as he impatiently tapped his foot. "The down side to this is that it takes a bloody long time to complete."

"How long?" Neia asked noticing the unusually long cast time.

Suddenly Koriander clapped her hands together and a flash of light pulsed from her to her surroundings. The ground started to shake as slabs of stone emerged from the ground, some of them bent once they grew to a great height and folded over to form roofs, soon a fortress was formed around the group of Overlord's and Roble officials.

"And for my next trick!" Koriander cast a huge illusion field over the area, turning the entire place invisible to the naked eye. As far as anyone else was concerned the field was completely normal and unchanged. "Now than to the business of armies."

The Roble officials would probably feel reluctant to have any combination of Demon, Demi-Human or undead fight alongside their people. Luckily though they had alternate solutions as through Koriander's teleportation circles men in Baharuth and Re-Estize armor began walking through the portals carrying with them supplies to feed a army. Koriander and her siblings retired to their room for the evening, better to wait until all the necessities were brought over in any case.

"So the two part system we developed was a success then." Demiurge commented looking quite pleased with himself.

"Aha. I'll leave perfecting the two parter to your, for now I have a even more radical idea: a three part system." Koriander stated already dressed in her see through night gown.

"A three part?" Demiurge stated sounding vaguely excited.

"Fluder has been experimenting with the dragon queen yes? A user of rare wild magic." Koriander stated smiling wickedly. To re-cap Enchantments are about refining magic to it's peak for min max type strategy, rune crafting offers a bare minimal amount of refinement and more power but is more difficult to use and also eats up a larger amount of power, wild magic used by those with the blood of dragons offers zero refinement and is instead all about dumping as much raw power on a problem as possible. "In the same way that we were able to achieve a increase in power by feeding rune crafting into a enchantment, we should be able to achieve a even greater result by funneling in wild magic into runes and then into enchantments."

"Should I see what alterations can be made to the Dragon Queen for our benefit?" Demiurge asked smirking knowingly. "Not tonight no. Only a small portion of the queen's biology is useful to us. We can't risk large scale modifications to her without destroying it." Koriander stated as she scratched her chin. "Though the dragons should be able to use wild magic as well, and much better then her too, some of the Dragon Newts might be the same way too. Begin investigating the possibility of draconic wild magic immediately."

"Thy will shall be done." Demiurge stated letting out a bow before the crystal mirror disappeared.

"If you're done with your madness Koriander we can get to business please?" Balloma stated stepping over Kieran's body who was already sleeping on the grassy floor. "They want us to rescue some of their people from a nearby concentration camp in the morning." Balloma explained dressed in a far more modest night gown.

"We rescued them from a ambush, restocked their supplies, gave them a army and built them a new base. Just how greedy are these people?" Koriander asked a look of clear disbelief on her features.

"They seem to be under the impression that their paladins will be the ones leading the charge." Balloma stated as she face palmed herself.

"In other words, they are the ones who are going to rescue their people: we're just going to be there to 'help.'" Koriander stated making air quotes with her fingers. "Do they at least have a plan in place?"

"Go in, rescue people, take any supplies they have, kill all Demi-humans present, convert camp into base." Balloma stated in a displeased tone of voice, after a moment of silence from Koriander. "That's it."

"Riiiiight. Do we have a plan?" Koriander asked looking at her sister with a puzzled look on her face.

"That depends entirely on one singular factor." Balloma stated as she held her chin in her hand while Koriander gestured for her to continue. "The progress of the Dragon Newts into the Kingdom."

* * *

 **Review Section** :

rmarcano321: True, but was one of the enemies in the original Overlord game. You're not wrong, mostly I think it's just her raging against Ainz for saving their people. For this segment, more to come down the road anyway. At the moment they've made alliances with three major factions conquered two and destroyed one: you tell me. Balloma, make the union between Koriander and Kieran fall apart resulting in a systematic dismantling of Nazarick's forces.

PervySageChuck: Gross man.


	50. Chapter 50

**Author's Note** : Bit of a hectic weekend at the moment, updates might be lost in the confusion. Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy!

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Chapter 50: The Frozen Spy

The town use to be known as Khagakur, now though maybe Khagakur Fortress was a better term. The Demi-Humans had forced human slaves to stack wood, stone and metal around the Village in a wall held together via rope, tar and some form of concrete. Human slaves opened the gate for the Dragon Newts, whipped into action by one of the Bafolk or Goat men. Goats were the primary force here but others had bullied their way in as well. As it stood Zaryusu already had quite a bit going for him: he already had his own gang of his fellow Dragon Newts, specifically of the sword wielding variety, which earned him a bare minimal amount of influence among the Demi-Humans. However they had yet to see him fight, but that changed now.

The hierarchy of the Demon Lord's army worked as follows: You have the Demon Lord Jaldabaoth himself, under him you have your overlords, commanders of his bases and generals of his armies. Under the Overlords you have Warchiefs, lieutenants in the armies who have climbed the ranks of the army through nothing short of cold blooded murder. Under the Warchief you have at least two bodyguards/apprentices, if in the event of the Warchief's death their highest ranking surviving bodyguard takes their place, a fact that many former bodyguard's have taken advantage of in the short few month's since the formation of the Demon Lord's army. Finally there were the captains, those Demi-humans who were responsible for overseeing the grunt work of the army, demolition, hunting, construction, escorting, messenger and the like. Per base, there was one Overlord, with potentially three bodyguards, up to seven Warchief's, up to Two Bodyguard's each and divided freely between them twenty captains over seeing various jobs in the interest of expanding Jaldabaoth's sphere of influence.

The current Zaryusu aimed for the position of bodyguard which led to his current situation: the fighting pits. If the Demi-humans took resumes, this is where they would be filed. Here in what amounted to a hole the human slaves dug in the middle of their city is where the Demi-Humans figuratively and literally slaughtered their competition whenever a new position opened in the army. Which now led to current events.

"You!? Is this a joke!?" A single horned Ogre of the Vah Un tribe, a tribe that specialized in the manipulation of water, made his presence known. "I come here for a fight and all I get is some puny weaklings!?" The Ogre angrily slammed his mace into the ground. "Where's the real fight!?" The crowd started chanting the name 'Abraxas!' presumably that was this hunk of meat's name.

"Let's get this over with." Zaryusu stated as he pulled out _two_ Frost Pains.

Even with the back up of five Dragon Newts the odds were stacked against Zaryusu, his specialty lied singularly with the manipulation of ice, but his opponent controlled water in all of it's forms. He would need to be fairly creative to take down Abraxas.

"RRRAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHRRR!" Abraxas charged forward, from either hand whips of water formed and they cleaved through the dirt walls with every swing. Flipping around one of the dual frost pains Zaryusu used icy burst to stop one of the water slashes dead.

"Is that the best you got?" Zaryusu covered his body in a layer of water that then froze solid in the form of blue ice, the densest most durable form of ice in existence. "Blue Ice Armor!"

Abraxis pulled up the water from his attack and joined his two water whips into one giant twisting sword like mass. With water moving with enough speed and pressure to carve through steel the Vah Un cleaved through Zaryusu's men, or so he would like to believe. Stakes of ice appeared beneath the Dragon Newt's feet and shot them into the air with explosive force, and they stayed there floating on draconic wings.

"Cowards!" Screaming that Abraxis fired that stream of water that he had been swinging around like a great sword as a concentrated beam at Zaryusu. But that was within the Dragon Newt's predictions. The farther way from Abraxis the water got the less influence he had over it, towards that end Zaryusu had gotten as far away from him as possible, just outside of the Ogre's attack range. With the power of Frost Pain Zaryusu blocked the attack with a icy burst and dispersed it into several floating javelins of ice.

"Now's your chance!" Zaryusu's men dive bombed the Ogre blades drawn, only for the ice javelins to rush past them and slam into the Ogre's water barrier, but one got through going into the ogre's shoulder, and through that burst bubble the others swarmed.

"Puny lizards!" Shouting that, the Ogre pulled out his mace and made grand sweeping gestures against the Lizardmen, but without his other arm his attacks were quite clumsy at the moment. And predictable. The next time the attack went next to the wall the other Dragon Newts froze it in place and it wasn't coming undone with the Ogre's mana exhausted. Not that that seemed to concern him any, he simply grabbed the nearest Dragon Newt by his tail and started slamming him against the others like a flail. But that was a mistake. One icy stab later and the swinging arm had been frozen solid. "RAAARRG!" Zaryusu saw his opening and took it. He dive bombed on the Ogre and with the full force of his momentum slammed frost pain into his skull and froze it solid. "Ah... ah... eh..."

The Ogre dropped to his knees and Zaryusu pulled his blade out. Turning to face the crowd Zaryusu had one response to make.

"RRRRWWAAAAAARRRRRR!" And the crowd was whipped into a frenzy. But they parted allowing a Bafolk wearing high quality magic armor to walk through them.

"Nice very nice. I am Buser, and I believe that this situation requires a discussion in private." The humans taverns didn't have much variety any more when the Demi-humans took over. It chiefly consisted of moonshine which had been watered down with whatever unpleasant substance the Demi-humans cared to source for a variety of different cocktails. What was being served right now was being called 'Blood-Grog.' "Truthfully. Abraxis was too much of a idiot for a right hand. Too much meat in his head." Saying that Buser drank a gulp from his mug. "Ah... But he had already proven his worth, which is more than what you have done."

"I'll have to take your word for it." Zaryusu mimicked the Goat Man's actions, then shook his head in displeasure after he actually sampled his drink. "Still, as I see it you're short on Demi-Humans with wings, except for the Raja Naja that is." Zaryusu stated recalling the sight of the flying snake people circling around the base.

"That we are, but from another point of view you're redundant." The Bafolk paused to take another swig of his drink. "Unless of course you prove your worth."

"Huu..." Zaryusu decided to down the foul liquid in one go. That was a mistake as he nearly threw up. "...and what is the coveted position of your bodyguard worth?"

"In addition to the Hydra that you and your men pretended you didn't come here on, there's been a particularly nasty drake that I have had my eye on for some time now." Buser stated directing Zaryusu's attention over the mountain.

"Fine I'll take my men and go hunt it." Zaryusu stated as he noted, to his horror, his mug being refilled with the Blood-Grog.

"As I said, this is you proving your worth. You will bring this beast down, alive, and by yourself and in the process prove yourself it's equal."

"Is that all?" Zaryusu got up to leave, pointedly ignoring the jug of foul liquid left for him, and went dragon hunting.

* * *

"Well this is boring." Kieran stated as he sat feet up in the lounging area of the fortress. "How long until the lizard can create an opening for us?"

"Hmm. The head honcho over there looks like he likes him, but he's going dragon hunting at the moment." Koriander noted as she tapped her fingers together peering into the mask that she used to see through the eyes of the Green sent to follow Zaryusu.

"For Ainz's sake the hell did we come here for if we aren't gonna do anything?" Kieran asked as he let out a mentally exhausted sigh.

"Oh we're going to do some things, but you can't do anything in that armor." Balloma stated being followed by Neia, who was dragging in a set of paladin armor and clerics robes.

"No!" Kieran stated his voice cold, uncompromising, and a little bit fearful.

"Don't make jokes Balloma dear." Koriander stated pulling up her mask and shot a ghastly scandalized look at the holy vestments that had been prepared for her. "They're not very funny."

"Do I look like I'm laughing?" Balloma asked giving a deadly serious look. "Jaldabaoth already saw the both of you during the siege on the Re-Estize kingdom. He knows what you look like and he knows who you are."

"Wait. Why does who they are matter to him?" Neia asked prompting Balloma to glare at her quite sore from being interrupted.

"Because the three of us are the grand children of the man he made god by trapping in the abyss."

"A god!?" Neia shouted in surprise dropping what she was carrying in shock. "Then does that mean that...?"

"The three of us are God Kin? No. One of our grandfathers last acts as a mortal would be to conceive a child with our grand mother who would go on to become our father. I can't speak about what these two have been doing to themselves but I assure I remain complete and totally within the realm of mortal." Balloma stated indicating her siblings.

"Not something to brag about sis." Koriander stated smirking knowingly. "But back to the topic at hand."

"Wear the holy vestments, get close to Jaldabaoth, stab him repeatedly in the face, we go home and get Sebas to make us a plate of fish and chips. What about any of that don't you understand?" Balloma asked glaring at her siblings furiously.

"Unless you have a mask in there those aren't going to do me any good." Koriander stated smirking knowingly at her sister. Wordlessly Balloma tossed a golden mask depicting an solemn angelic face on the floor in front of Koriander.

"It's a Roble Prayer mask. Worn by high ranking clerics of the kingdom." Balloma stated watching Koriander's face twitch like it was about to break. "Any more so called flaws in my plan you would like to point out or would the two of you like to get changed now?"

* * *

Zaryusu could fly, that at least put him on even ground with his large scaly opponent, there was a common misconception of dragons that like most normal sized reptiles they were cold blooded. Were that the case they would be dead the first time they got caught out in the rain, not exactly the top tier Alpha Predator that they are known for being. However there was one flaw about them that was obvious when someone cared to think about it: This was the resident strongest creature in the land. Nothing out here even stood a candle to it, why would it ever bother to look up.

"Well... Here goes nothing." Like that, Zaryusu dive bombed on the dragon.

He pounced on the dragon from above and stabbed both of his Frost Pains into the beast's wings, sending it into a nose dive but supporting it into a controlled descent through the use of his own wings. But the battle wasn't over yet, the dragon wasn't dead, only wounded, more important than that it was absolutely pissed.

"RRRRAAAAWWWRRRR!"

The dragon fired it's breath at Zaryusu consuming his body in fire and walked forward, he would roast him to his bones and then snap down on his form. If not for the effects of his ice armor and icy burst Zaryusu would have been burnt to his core by now, as it stood though he wasn't. In fact things were playing out to his favor as the dragon was blinded to his presence by his own attack, Zaryusu on the other hand could tell how by the attack was increasing in intensity that the dragon was walking forward, and there was only one reason why it would be doing that. When the fire adjusted it's angle to snap down on the Dragon Newt Zaryusu took his chance and dived through the dragon's front legs to his underside. The confused dragon tasted nothing before his mouth went numb, jaws locked together by a cone of ice produced by Zaryusu. The Dragon Newt took advantage of his position, slamming a icy club into the thing's balls and causing it to bowl over in pain. Ice was used to form cuffs while the other Dragon Newts and their Ogre escort moved in and helped Zaryusu to drag the thing back to Khagakur.

Then it was back to the Blood Grog, objectively the worst part of this mission.

"To my new Body Guard!" Buser shouted hoisting a mug full of his horrifying concoction in the air. "Truthfully I never liked Abraxis, only had meat in his head." Several Demi-humans went 'MMM' as they rubbed their belly's. "But Zaryusu here? He can out think his enemies! He can lead the men in battle! He shall make a glorious Warchief one day!" To Buser's words the numerous gathered Demi-Humans raised their mugs with a 'here here.'

"Huzzah." Zaryusu was less enthused, now he would be watching his back all day and night long while he worked to sabotage the base. Towards that end... "Master I would like to propose something." Rororo had gotten some upgrades since joining the Overlord's services. Koriander muttered something about 'activating dormant genes that insufficient hormones had failed to trigger' and soon the four headed hydra turned eight headed. From these eight heads deadly poison that Zaryusu could harvest came forth, even watered down it could slaughter in mass, but at room temperature it turned into a deadly gas. "Provided we get our mixing right, then any enemy that we face is going to be dead before they can break our walls." Zaryusu explained as he plotted to have the walls filled with highly flammable explosive liquid.

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 **Review Section** :

rmarcano321: The calm often precedes the storm. Of the new world? About... 20% I think.


	51. Chapter 51

**Author's Note** : Okay so little bit behind in my writing this week, my putty cat just got spaded last weekend it's been a little extra hectic around these parts looking after her. Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy!

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Chapter 51: The Siege of Khagakur

The Armies of the Roble Rebelion faction and the Dwelfs of the Katze Coalition were gathered outside of Khagakur Fortress, several siege engines were built by the armies of the rebellion, ballistas, catapults and magic casters. Remedios stood at the front of the army, to her left was a tall knight wearing the trademark colors of the Roble Kingdom and Remedios's squire Neia, to right was a Roble cleric wearing the mask denoting her as a saint. But to Buser none of those mattered to him, his only concern was the woman who stood in front of the army, a hated enemy of all demi-humans.

"Remedios!" Buser snapped pointing down accusingly at the leader of the Rebel army. "You have killed a great many of our people! I will avenge ourselves upon you! I will teach food like you your place once and for all!" The goat man was wearing magic armor and had a belt on decorated with small-esh human skulls, most likely children.

"Charge!" Remedios ordered her men to charge forward, thus the paladins moved forward to attack the walls.

However, on Buser's signal, pipes that had been forced through the walls with decorative heads began spewing foul liquid that soon evaporated into a poisonous mist.

"Neia." The tall knight stated leaning over the arrow wielding squire.

"Yes Sir!" Neia had one arrow notched and three more ready to fire.

The arrows were coated with wind magic and were fired into the holes of those pipes, the air slammed into the poison and pushed the poison back down the way they came, the high pressure rattled the delicate pipes and caused them to rupture, the concentrated oxygen and flammable liquid mixed together as the fire enchantment on the arrow heads went to work and ignited the flammable cocktail inside the wall and with loud explosions several large holes were punched through. Demi-humans standing on the walls fell over and landed on their comrades standing behind the wall crushing them. The stunned Demi-Humans flooded out from the holes and entered into melee with the humans and the Dwelfs.

"Fire the Ballista!" The Giant crossbows punched spears through entire groups of Demi-Humans and left them pinned to what was left of the wall.

"Well time for me to join in." The Knight stated rolling his shoulders.

"Remember no high level martial arts, we don't want to let Jaldabaoth know that we're here." The saint stated as she examined her staff.

"Then what do you propose I do? Chuck rocks at them?" The Knight asked in a tone of disbelief.

"Yes, preferably imbued with holy power, something to make it look like you're a proper paladin." The saint replied almost sarcastically.

"Fine but the same goes for you, no summons, no attack magic and none of your demon or undead stuff." The Knight stated as he picked up rather large stone.

* * *

Zaryusu had flown into the stables area where he retrieved his Hydra.

"Rororo lets get to work!" Zaryusu stated as he landed on his mount's back.

 _"I trust things are going well?"_ Balloma's voice echoed inside of the Dragon Newt's skull via the message spell.

 _"As instructed, the walls were compromised by my suggestion."_ After all hollowing out chunks of the wall to make use of crude pipes and filling them with explosive gas was begging for trouble. _"What would you like me to do now?"_ Zaryusu asked cocking a suspicious brow.

 _"What position were you given?"_ Balloma asked sounding just a touch suspicious.

 _"I was made one of Buser's bodyguards."_ Zaryusu explained as Rororo walked out.

 _"Then go be his bodyguard."_ Like that Zaryusu went on to complete his duties. With any luck he could help take down Buser without exposing his position as a spy.

* * *

The Demi-humans were being hit with rocks, chucked at them with incredible power, in order to take the base they needed to capture six key points so that they could cut off Buser's escape. Zaryusu already breached the walls, the Dwelf's made use of rune crafted weapons taken from the dwarf city and were using them to great effect against the Demi-Humans, Remedios and her two generals held their ground against the enemy before them. The Saint, despite her objections to the contrary, made use of healing and buffing magic to augment the fighting power of the men. High on that top tier Buffing magic even Remedios was able to deal significant damage against the Demi-Humans that she normally had bad compatibility with. She'd be even more effective if she would listen to the saint's instructions on which of the Demi-Humans she should be saving her evil smiting skills for but alas even the woman's brains were made out of muscles, though to her credit she was following the logic of saving her most powerful attacks for the base's overlord. But there was one tiny little problem with plan. Regardless the Remedios who was enhanced by support type magic and was being backed by monsters being crushed by rocks that were being chucked with ridiculous amounts of force was able to take the outer part of the fortress, but the inner sanctum was still holding strong. Worst yet, it seems that they had a fire breathing dragon of some kind chained up on the other side of the gate and it was taking advantage of the numerous holes in the gate to roast people on the other side with impunity.

"We can't get through that gate with that dragon on the other side!" Remedios snapped looking at her knight expectantly.

"I know I know." The Knight stated while he called Neia over with his finger.

"Yes Sir!" Saying that Neia came over and the knight picked her up by the back of her armor and chucked her over the wall with one arm.

Neia looked down at the dragon and with pin point aim landed a fire/wind combo on the chains holding the dragon in place destroying them with a loud bang before landing on the balcony leading into Buser's makeshift citadel. With that Neia put on the spider silk with the invisibility enchantment woven into it that was made by Koriander and disappeared from sight. With the dragon freed and wreaking havoc the Knight bent over, grabbed the gate by the bottom, and stood up throwing the gate into the up position, a pile of Demi-Human corpses kept the gate in the open position while the dragon wreaked havoc among both of the army's.

"Someone needs to get that beast under control!" Remedios stated while she sauntered over to the two warchief's in the inner walls of the fortress. By someone Remedios seemed to mean The Knight as she ran off to fight a Zoastra leaving him and his sister to deal with 'these pests.'

"Why do we even...?" The Saint held her hand to her mask in a face palm, before she promptly held her staff up to the air at the dragon.

"Dis-belief crush!" Shouting out words that didn't remotely match the name of the spell she really cast The saint hit the dragon with de-buff magic and brought it to the ground in front of her in a instant. "Divine Enlightenment." Casting a mind control spell that had absolutely nothing to do with Enlightenment the Saint instantly placed the dragon under her direct control and sicced it on the Demi Humans.

A commonly understood fact among magic casters was that although it was popular to call the names of one's magic to warn their allies what they were doing it wasn't a absolute necessity, by extension it was equally possible to lie through ones teeth about what kind of spell they were casting altogether.

"Our Dragon!? They took control of our dragon!?" A Quoga war chief asked in disbelief, before that is his head was taken off by another rock thrown by the Knight.

"All of you war chief's are dead!" The Knight shouted getting the attention of all the Demi-Humans in the process and tossing their leaders decapitated corpses at their feet. "Your options are surrender or death!"

Staring down rune crafted weapons, paladins, super humanly strong warriors and their own secret weapon turned against them the Demi-Humans opted for surrender.

"I will confront the leader myself and bring him to justice for his crimes against my people." Remedios stared hatefully at what should have been her two strongest allies in this. "Don't interfere."

"That works fine for us." The Knight stated looming over his so called commander. "I've grown tired of the sound of your voice anyway."

"Let us not waste anymore time with this woman Brother." The Saint stated leading her brother away from Remedios and into a tavern.

Angered, Remedios kicked open the door leading into Buser's Citadel and after a short walk came to what one would call a thrown room. Buser was joined by a Ogre, a Kakuan on the back of a armored sabre tooth tiger like creature and the Overlord's Dragon Newt spy on the back of a hydra.

"Came here to answer for your crimes wrench?" Buser asked as he slouched in his chair.

"I came here to make you answer for yours!" Remedios stated drawing her sword.

"Fine then. I made your people labor in our mines, build our walls and as a reward I chopped them to pieces and ate them." Buser admitted without a single shred of remorse. "Now what's your excuse for murdering mine?"

"You are monsters and I will defeat you!" Saying that Remedios raised up her sword and unleashed her evil smite attack. One of Rororo's heads reached around and shoved the Ogre into the way of the attack. Though both Buser and the Ogre were submerged in that attack, only Buser came out in one piece, the Ogre dropped dead from the attack. "How did you stand that attack!? Did you use your subordinate as a shield!?" Remedios asked watching the events that had unfold before her eyes and coming to only one solution that made any sense to her.

"This one isn't very smart is she?" Buser asked as he and his two remaining bodyguards started to walk forward.

"No Matter! Evil Smite!" Unleashing that attack again Remedios dumped the full might of Evil Smite down on top of Buser's head. Buser walked out of the holy attack unscathed and made a show out of brushing imaginary dust off of his shoulder. "What!? How...?"

"'Evil Smite?'" Buser had to laugh at that. "Some how I think it would be more effective against you than me." Buser commented laughing at Remedios's misfortune.

Suddenly a loud explosion echoed as the Kakuen was knocked off of his riding beast with enough force that his arm was taken off and he himself was most likely dead already.

"Up there!" Buser pointed to the rafters where Neia had revealed herself armed with her bow. "I'll deal with this one." Buser stated as he turned around to face Remedios.

That was a mistake. Buser found himself frozen solid, a sword run through his chest before Rororo swung one of his heads and smashed Buser into powder.

"I better get going soon." Zaryusu stated as Rororo helped Neia get down. "If they realize that we're not fighting they're going to get noisy."

"Then leave already!" Remedios snapped glaring hatefully at the Dragon Newt who just killed the guy that she worked hard to weaken to the point that he could be two shot like that.

"Not yet. First I have to cover my tracks." Zaryusu stated as he turned his attention to Neia. "Miss. If you could use one of those arrows to blast that pile of snow over there for me." Since neither Neia or Remedios could use ice attacks it would be pretty hard for one of them to claim credit for turning him into powdered snow. But if Neia could turn that snow pile into ash instead, then that would be a boon for them.

"Excuse me! But I am the one who defeated the Overlord!" Remedios snapped clearly feeling like she was the one responsible for defeating that guy just now.

"Can you use ice or fire?" Zaryusu asked and cocking a scaly brow when he felt he knew the answer. "No? Miss if you wouldn't mind." Zaryusu stated turning his attention back to Neia.

"Right!" One loud explosion later and the snow pile turned to ash, to further cement the rumor they intended to spread Neia put on Buser's magic armor which then auto adjusted to her size.

"Now for the next part." The Dragon Newt turned around to face Remedios who was staring at him hatefully. "Oh don't be like that: you're gonna like this part, it involves attacking me." Zaryusu stated as he melted his ice armor. "After all if I escape from the citadel without a scratch it'll look too suspicious."

"Tch!" Remedios had reached her limit with these Overlords and their monsters. "HYYYAAAAAHHHH!"

A large fresh gash was planted across Zaryusu's chest. Neia applied some bandages and a low level healing potion before Zaryusu and his mount made a show out of barely escaping the citadel with their lives.

* * *

"Ainz I'm glad to be out of that armor." Kieran stated removing the helmet of a Roble Holy knight and slamming it on a table in the tavern.

"Couldn't those people come up with a less suffocating mask for their saints?" Koriander complained as she unceremoniously dropped the mask that was her prison on the table as she debated the closest place that she could have a hot bath and how many people she could get to scrub her down with steel wool.

"There you two are!" Neia, wearing her new armor, ran into the tavern where the two Overlord candidates were hanging out. "I was worried about you guys."

"Why?" Kieran asked shrugging his shoulder.

"You two ran off right after Remedios went to confront that Buser guy." Neia explained observing the two with their rather drained expressions. "You guys look like you seen hell."

"Close we were wearing it." Koriander stated holding up her mask.

"Right. Think there's anything edible in here?" Neia asked as she looked in the back of the tavern.

"Edible for the Demi-Humans and you lot are two different things." Kierian warned watching Neia enter a room in the back like a butcher's shop.

Hanging from the ceiling via numerous hooks were an incalculable number of human limbs. With a sick look on her face Neia promptly slammed the door shut. Based on the story the prisoners they found told them, the Demi-humans would hack off their limbs, grind up the meat, before force feeding them health potions to regrow their lost limbs, as well as force feeding them said ground up meat in the interest of keeping them in good enough shape for work and consumption. Physically they were fine, mentally the former soldiers of the Holy Roble Kingdom had been given scars that would leave them non-viable for the rest of their lives. A cursory examination of the fortress revealed that the only form of meat left within was that which was created by force feeding humans health potions. Even if the people of the army were low on supplies eating the meat that was forcibly extracted from their comrades via a method that amounted to torture was not a option for them. Making matters worst it seems that they already had another army of Demi-Humans that were marching on them.

"Those fellows are more cunning than they look." Sacrificing the fortress just so that they would be lured into a trap. "Welp." Koriander's response to this realization was just a smile and a shrug. "What say we make full use of the gift that they gave us shall we?" The gears inside of Koriander's brain were already spinning rapidly.

* * *

 **Author's Note** :

rmarcano321: Yes. Your point? It tends to vary from time to time. There's a lot of back and forth in the home land against the Shining Justice, Not quite Canada think more like Mexico.


	52. Chapter 52

**Author's Note** : Okay So cat has fully recovered, hopefully this means that I can get my quantity of writing back to where

* * *

Chapter 52: The Defense of Khagakur

Khagakur fortress had been surrounded a mere week after the siege that had put it into the rebels hands had ended, the Demi Human army would have gotten here earlier but they found themselves slowed down by the 'Mad Archer.' One of the humans had taken to breaking into their camps, setting fire to all their supplies, freeing their slaves, killing their captains and setting off explosions in the middle of their camps. The few people who had seen the Mad Archer reported that she was wearing Buser's armor, wielded a bow with magic engraved into it like they've never seen before, and had a stare that could turn a man's blood into ice. Eventually she manage to make enough of a pest of herself that they needed to call on extra reinforcements to deal with her. Hence why it took them a week to travel a couple of miles towards the fortress.

"Excellent workmanship Neia." Kieran, dressed in the Roble styled armor, stated as he ate a sandwich made that morning using supplies shipped in from the Katze Plains. "They look like a right proper mess down there."

"If you say so sir." Neia replied in a slightly depressed tone of voice.

"What is it?" Kieran asked cocking a brow suspiciously at Neia.

"Ah, I'm not use to getting praise sir." Neia replied letting out an exhausted sigh.

"What do you mean, as Remedios's Squire..." Or rather, as Remedios's professional punching bag and door mat.

"Forget I said anything." Kieran stated letting out a sigh. "What about the others?"

"The archery squadron is lining the top of the wall as we speak."

Whenever Neia wasn't out making life generally miserable for the Demi-Humans the dwelfs would use wind type runes on their bows to dramatically augment in their range and rain down on the Demi-humans which further slowed them down and reduced their numbers. They eventually found a effective counter by tying human prisoners to their shields and carrying them above their heads. When the Demi-humans did eventually get there they found their fortress had been dramatically changed, steel gates now blocked the entrance leading into the base, metal spikes lined the walls preventing their beast riders from climbing up, and archers catapults, ballista's and other instruments of range had been mounted on top of the walls waiting for the pleasure to rain down hell on the forces below.

"Humans!" Leading the charge was one Vijar Rajandala, a Zoastra with the title of Demon Claw or so the intelligence reports stated. "You have taken something that does not belong to you! And we are here to take it back!" Vijar snapped swinging a huge double sided battle ax at the front gate.

"That one of them?" Kieran asked looking down at the huge tiger centaur.

"Yes." Neia stated nodding her head.

When Neia was harassing the Demi-Human armies she was also collecting intel on them, the top three threats were Vijar Rajandala, a middle aged Magelos named Nasrene Belt Cure and a stone eater named Halisha Ankara.

"You see their boss down there?" Kieran asked cocking a suspicious brow. Among the intel reports were visits from a Raja Naja named Rokesh who was receiving orders directly from Jaldabaoth. Catch him, and they get a direct line to the demon lord himself.

"Unfortunately no. I believe he's what you called a 'Arm Chair General.'" Neia stated recalling the term that Koriander used to describe a rearguard General.

For army leaders whose abilities were more about strategy rather then charisma and martial prowess they are given the position of rearguard generals. Advisers that can use message spells to advise their lower ranked commanders who are on the front lines. The necessity for this came down to a need to have commanders who understand the big picture and who understand the small picture, yes it was necessary to win a battle in order to achieve the armies overall objectives, but not if you discard those objectives during the fighting. Hence the need for the two commanders, or four as the case maybe.

"The Demi-Humans really don't get along do they?" A idea had suddenly appeared in Kieran's mind. "The next time you raid one of their bases, see if you can find something we can plant at another raid to sow the seeds of doubt."

"Yes sir!" Neia stated bowing her head.

"Now then why don't you join the others?"

The horns sounding the start of the Demi-Humans charge echoed, Immediately they ran up to the front gates, the wooden draw bridge slammed down on top of several of the chargers crushing them, but the weight of those who scrambled on top kept it down. The Demi-humans entered a newly formed tunnel, and had not realized until the reached the end of it what purpose it served until they saw a pair of glowing reptile eyes.

"RRRRUUUUNNN!" A Iron gate slammed down on a escaping Demi-Human leaving the tunnel very much crammed full of them.

The trap was finished off by the dragon loosing it's fire breath at the captives roasting them alive in the flames. Then, almost invitingly, the front gate opened again. Wisely, rather than trying to get at the dragon from the other side of the gate several of the beast riders attempted to climb up the walls, and were met with the troublesome wall spikes that halted their momentum quite dead. Thus leading to option C, in which several Ogres charged at the walls carrying battering rams as they did their best to smash the walls down, which lead to archers on top of the walls to drop poisoned knives onto them from above. The poison wouldn't kill them, not immediately, rather it caused the Ogres to enter a berserker frenzy as they turned their wrath upon those they called comrade sending smaller Demi-Humans flying with every swing of their clubs. Plan D, or rather perhaps the true plan A, had the Demi-humans trying to enter the citadel from below, Demi-humans trained in the use of stealth and invisibility Martial Arts and Magic had been informed of a secret underground tunnel Buser had built leading directly into his citadel that only someone who had his keys could access. However, what they weren't planning on was that the humans would already be aware of this tunnel's existence.

* * *

"Well that should be enough time." Koriander stated as she stood in front of the door that led to the secret tunnel. "Hydroponic flood." Koriander stated producing a large type magic circle that subsequently magically produced a continuous amount of a lake's worth of water and flooded the tunnels with it.

"Keep going! This amount is nothing!" The water was only waist deep, for heavy weight creatures like the Quogoa this amount was nothing.

But unfortunately for them Koriander is not so merciful as to hit her opponents with only one spell.

"Summon Beast: Snake Head Sharks!" From the second magic circle three sharks with bladed fins appeared and went down the flooded tunnels.

Suffice to say between the water and the razor sharp air breathing sharks the people on the other side of the tunnel were in for a rather nasty surprise. Undeterred the Demi-Humans decided that it was only a matter of time before the humans broke. After all it was not like those soft bodied creatures would do something like eating the meat that they had made from their fellow humans, and even if they did there was only a limited amount inside of that place. They _will_ run out!

"Shift change!" Tired men on the fortress walls climbed down while fresh ones climbed up to take their place, a section inside of the fortress had been torn up and replaced with a farm where various edible plants were being grown, fertilized with the corpses of dead humans and Demi-Humans, grown at a dramatically accelerated rate via druid based magics, and the men were all to happy to eat them. Point of interest they were still receiving supplies through the magic circles too.

* * *

"This has gotten out of hand." Nasrene stated during a meeting between the three commanders of the Demi-Human forces. "At some point in time the Ratio of Loss Vs Profit gets turned on it's head and the time comes where we must change our strategy. Gentlemen, that time is now."

"We could always demoralize them by slaughtering our prisoners." Vijar stated his logic sounding infallible to them.

"I don't think that is possible Vijar." Halisha stated as he scratched that monkey like face of his. "Don't get me wrong I'm as much for slaughtering humans as much as the next Demi. But I'm not sure these people can be demoralized."

"What are you talking about?" Vijar asked in a demanding tone of voice.

"Think about it. We've been here for weeks, the only way they could have lasted this long is by eating the meat we left behind in the fortress. In spite of receiving the blows of our constant attacks and eating their own dead they don't seem to be relenting any time soon. On the contrary if we provoke them then they might increase their aggression instead." Halisha explained closing his eyes and crossing his arms in thought.

"Any idea on how to breach the wall then Vijar?" Nasrene asked her cheek resting on one of her hands while two others did finger taps. "We load explosives on our prisoners and we force them to run at the walls. They explode, take out the walls, and we enter the fortress." Vijar stated while he grinned darkly. "If those soft creatures refused to fire at their own when they were being used as shields I doubt they'll muster the will to shoot once they go on the offensive."

"Unlikely Vijar. The difference here is that with your plan they will still be dead whether or not they kill them." Nasrene explained before she started to smile darkly. "I guess that means that I am the one who will have to do the work here then."

"If you had a way of breaching the wall in the first place why didn't you do that weeks ago!?" Vijar snapped glaring angrily at his senior.

"Spells on that level would be quite powerful, casting them would mean draining my mana reserves and keep me from providing support to the battle itself, which will also limit my ability to claim accolades from Master Jaldabaoth as well." Nasrene stated gesturing with two of her arms.

"I see, you still have the ambition to lay with the king of demons do you?" Halisha asked smirking sinisterly.

"Of course, who wouldn't want a opportunity to increase the standing of their species?" Nasrene's logic was that the demon King would favor the species that his offspring belongs to, and even if he didn't a child with his blood through their veins would be nothing less than a God Kin.

"Whatever Hag. Are you going to go blow up the wall or not?" Vijar asked glaring angrily at his senior.

"Of course! But after I do understand that I won't be able to assist you in the battle." Nasrene explain folding her arms up.

"Like I'll need it!" Vijar snapped as he walked to go join the front lines of the battlefield.

Once in front of the fortress Nasrene spread out her arms and activated the magic tattoos inscribed onto her skin as she prepared a large magic circle, produced a huge mass of energy, and sent it crashing down on the wall. The blast succeed in destroying the wall causing it collapse, revealing Kieran and a contingent of soldiers on the other side sitting at Tables playing cards and briefly taking notice of the Demi-Human's presence.

"You're a week late." Kieran stated looking down at a pocket watch.

"We've caught them off guard! Attac-!" Kieran slammed both of his gauntlets together and produced a huge flash of light blinding the incoming Demi-Humans. Wiping away the flashing in his eyes Vijar was wide eyed when he saw the rune crafted bows of the enemy take aim at his men, this wasn't being caught off guard this was a ambush. With the newly formed choke point in the wall the forces of the Rebel army took advantage to blast the enemy with impunity.

"RRRAAAAGGGHH!" Vijar ignored the flames as he charged forward and slammed his weapon down on Kieran's head. Kieran simply caught the weapon between his hands and followed up with slamming his foot into Vijar's abdomen pushing him back about a foot. "You're definitely stronger than that Paladin woman aren't you!?" Vijar asked with a smile on his face.

"Not a high bar that one is she?" Kieran stated shrugging his shoulders, which only made Vijar smile wider.

"Step aside you!" Remedios snapped pointing her weapon at Vijar. "This one is mine!" A rumbling occurred in the floor as Halisha dropped down from above.

"Vijar let's double team them! With my defense and your offense they won't stand a chance!" The Monkey man stated as he swallowed several diamonds and his skin visibly hardened.

Both Kieran and the Zoastra took one look at each other before reaching a mutual understanding.

"Vijar what are you doing!?" Halisha snapped while he found himself being picked up by his neck.

"Traitor!" Remedios seemed to reach a similar conclusion as Kieran picked her up by her arm. "TRAITOR TRAITOR TRAITOR!"

""STAY OUT OF OTHER PEOPLE'S FIGHT!"" Like that, both Remedios and Halisha found themselves chucked out of the fortress and into the middle of the Demi-human hoard.

"Damn him!" Remedios snapped slamming her fist into the ground.

"Well I suppose that this works out well for me!" Halisha stated as he prepared to fight with a crack of his knuckles. "Jaldabaoth will declare me his body guard after I bring him your head!" Halisha was a monk, one who boasted naturally high defenses due to the ultra dense compression of Ki in his body. That in turn fit with his racial abilities as a Stone Eater who could say for example eat Diamonds and as a result gain ultra hardened defenses, this created a combination that rendered him immune to both slashing attacks and blunt force impact. He was almost the perfect Tank. Almost.

"Evil Smite!" Remedios blasted her enemy with her signature technique and perhaps to the surprise of everyone present the monster that was one of the strongest defenders within the army went down with a single hit, but then again that was what you get when you're a psychopath who gets hit with a anti evil attack. Remedios saw her chance and seized on it.

"Thunder Thrust!" Using a Martial art that increase her speed into a charging attack the Paladin commander zoomed forward and slammed her blade all the way up to the hilt into one of the enemy before her. "Six Fold Slash of light!" The Paladin followed that up by yanking the blade out and with each slash cleaved through more of the enemy ranks as they attempted to dog pile on top of her.

Kieran and Vijar had engaged directly in combat with one another, Vijar made use of his Martial Art 'Fortress' to augment his bodies fighting power, Kieran made use of a similar one used by channeling Earth Ki to augment his own strength and defenses against the Tiger Centaur. Vijar slammed his ax down from above and Kieran used his sword to block and deflected it, then with his foot he kicked the Tiger Man's front leg with a satisfying snap. However Vijar slammed down his hand on Kieran's shoulder using a 'power claw' technique to put a few dents in his armor.

"You're human I'll give you that!" Vijar smiled as he pulled Kieran in closer. "I've decided! I'm gonna make you into my new chew toy!"

"So have I: I'm gonna make you into a new pair of boots." Kieran as he slammed his foot into where his groin would be were Vijar human, sadly he was not.

"Nice try!" Vijar pushed Kieran forward with a punch, even with a broken leg Vijar was still able to get some momentum up, probably with a speed enhancing Martial art. Kieran fell backwards, let Vijar run up to him, before using the Tiger's own Momentum to deliver a double kick to send him sailing through the air and jump back to his feet. Vijar twisted his body around until he was able to land on his feel and ran back to Kieran, axing whatever soldier got in his way in the process. Kieran used his foot to kick a spear up into the air and grabbed it before chucking it at the incoming Zoastia with a wind enhancement. Vijar blocked the spear with his free hand and bore it very little mind as he used both arms to swing his ax on Kieran's side. Kieran grabbed the spear and used that to vault over Vijar letting out a loud snap in the process. "AHG! That suppose to tickle!?" Vijar asked as he now swung his ax one handed against Kieran.

"It was suppose to break your arm." Kieran stated as he grabbed hold of the ax by the shaft. Kieran made use of his sword to start taking swings at Vijar. Wisely the Beast man let go of his ax and jumped away a bit, less that blade start severing bits of his flesh. "Congratulations." Kieran stated as he raised the ax to throwing position and coated it with wind Ki. "You bought yourselves another few seconds to live." Kieran chucked that empowered ax at Vijar dividing him down the middle. Remedios arrived just in time to get splattered with the beast man's blood to her annoyance.

"Vijar and Halisha are dead." Nasrene stated looking at a interface which showed her her status on their army. "Cut our losses and retreat." The retreat of the Demi-humans was sounded with another war horn blow and was covered by a episode of fire bombing. The rebel forces were battered and bruised, but otherwise alive and it was cause enough for celebration for now as they went about the process of repairing the damages to the wall.

* * *

 **Review Section** :

rmarcano321: If you say so. I think that was the idea. Good to know. Sounds about right.


	53. Chapter 53

**Author's Note** : A bit of news. Since I work off of Light novel content the amount of chapters I will be able to put out before the next light novel comes out is going to be limited, now I don't know how many more chapters I can squeeze out of volumes 12 and 13, only that the amount is limited. So with that note Read, Review Favorite and Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 53: The Prince of Roble

A meeting between the Overlord Candidates and the forces of the Roble Rebellion was being held. With Khagakur fortress secured as their base of operations the next step was to begin freeing up the other territories under the Demi-humans control. According to their latest intelligence report, a Demi-Human messenger who walked up to their base carrying a crown in his possession, the Northern Kingdom's prince Caspond Bessarez, was being held in the city of Loyts, which the Demi-Humans had converted into a gladiatorial arena, and which would become the sight of the prince's execution should 'the Saint' not come and die in his place.

"It's nice to feel popular." Koriander's taking control over the dragon was one of the biggest reasons why the fortress was so easy to take, as it was also one of the biggest sources of the enemy's casualties when they tried to take it back.

"Spare me your popularity!" Remedios snapped slamming her fist into the table. "Caspond was the South's pick for a puppet ruler, if we get him back then those lazy bastards won't be able to pretend that this is none of their concern any longer!"

"You say that, but you presume that he's still alive." Kieran stated with a roll of his eyes.

"Eh. It's more than likely." Koriander stated shrugging her shoulders. "Putting him on display and having him be tortured right before our eyes is a good way to break our morale."

"I suppose you would know." Remedios stated getting a rare intelligent insult in against Koriander. "So what do we do to get Caspond back?"

"Same tactic we used to claim Khagakur." Balloma stated bluntly. "We make use of a spy to have him moved into a position where we can get him back."

"Who? The Dragon Newt again?" Gustav asked as he tossed a freshly grown apple up and down in the air.

"No not quite. Using the same agent over and over again increases the odds that he'll be caught. Given the value of Zaryusu we should probably have our forces lose against him in a minor skirmish." Balloma stated crossing her arms and tapping her finger.

"Recently we had some more success with our experiments in evolution, and thanks to the materials we collected from Khagakur said experiments have borne fruit, if you'll pardon the pun." It was at that time that Gustav had noticed his apple hadn't come back down yet, turning around he was greeted by the sight of the apple floating in mid air, before that is a Raja Naga faded into existence and started eating his apple. "Gentlemen, ladies, Remedios, this is Ryaryus another of our vassals." Ryaryus had changed since he first joined, read gang pressed into service after being killed & reanimated repeatedly followed by being revived as a flesh and blood creature. He looked far healthier now chief among the differences, the pair of wings coming out of his back and rainbow colored scales were two more big changes, the set of chain mail and silk gambison seemed trivial in comparison.

"Massstersss, how may I be of ssservicess?" Ryaryus asked as he made a show of bowing to the three overlord candidates.

"We need you to deliver something to the city of Loyts for us." Kieran stated as he pushed Neia forward. She now wore tiger like skin over her body, left over from when Kieran had his new boots made, Koriander took the liberty of imbuing it with barrier and resistance magic. "We need this person put into the same cell or next to the place where the Prince is being held captive, she caused the Demi-humans quite a bit of trouble so you'll likely become a captain for bringing her in. We also need you to put her bow and quiver of arrows somewhere near by, give them as a gift to her guard for example."

"Underssstood massster, we'll leave at your command." Ryaryus stated as he bowed before Kieran.

"Oh something else we want you to deliver as long as we're on the subject." Koriander tossed a pair of hilt, guard, pommel assemblies with runes carved into them through the air and landed in the hands of Ryaryus. "We need those delivered to the Dragon Newts in Loyts, they'll know what to do with them."

"Underssstood Missstress." Ryaryus stated as he tucked the handles into his belt.

"Once Neia begins her mission neither you or any of our other forces are to lend her any aid, if the two of you cross paths and there are witnesses you are to capture her and she is start her ex-filtration over, is that clear?" Ryaryus nodded in response.

"Good. Rough her up a little before you get there." Ryaryus nodded as he approached Neia.

* * *

Two Ogres were standing guard outside of the city of Loyts, one brushed the other in the shoulder when he spotted someone land in front of the fortress, a Raja Naga. He had a prisoner with him, a unconscious human woman wearing a set of magic armor.

"Halt! Who goes there!" One ogre asked brandishing his mace.

"Ryraryus Spenia Ai Indarun." The Naga stated before he hoisted his prisoner. "And the Mad Archer." There were many Demi-Humans who held a grudge against this girl. However they could wait, in this army when someone goes out of their way to irritate the high brass that person must be made an example of, and as it so happened they had a execution planned that afternoon so it wasn't hard to convince them to simply line her up with the other prisoners in the cage.

"Here. You seem capable so take these." Ryaryus stated handing a Magelos the bow and quiver of arrows. "If any of her friends try and rescue her, killing them with her own weapons will make her sink further into despair."

The Magelos seemed to approve of the Snake Dragon's logic. Thus Neia was chained up to the bars of the cage while the Magelos was eagerly looking for a target to shoot with her bow. The Prince had seen better days, his hair had turned white and he had grown a large beard, he was also quite emaciated and he didn't fit into the clothes that he looked like he was wearing since little before the war with Jaldabaoth started. He took notice of Neia, however in that instance a change occurred to her, for in spite of being beaten up Neia opened her mouth and produced a bone from between her teeth and smiled.

* * *

Koriander had changed into her saint outfit again, complete with her mask, and was approaching the gates of Loyts turned fortress. Rubble had been excessively stacked on one another to created a giant circular building and it looked to be held together using tar and rope. For stadium seats, rocks, tree stumps, occasionally a chair that survived the massacre of Loyts, all of it was made to surround a large open pit. And through that pit the guest of honor for the evening walked a mage woman who had come there to die, or so they had planned. They were looking for a spectacle, they were gonna get one. From the other end of the arena a spidan walked out, a huge vaguely centaur like arachnid creature that had four arms in addition to four legs, his body was covered in Spidan steel silk and he carried four magic staffs in his hands, clacking his jaws in anticipation.

* * *

Most of the Demi-Humans were at the arena, soon someone would come and fetch them for the half time show, which was their execution via torture, so they needed to hurry. Neia stifled the sound of her cuff's unlocking using her sleeve, but the sense of hearing of a Demi-human was not something that could be under estimated so she had taken precautions against that. The guard briefly paid the sound of cuffs coming undone some mind but when he looked inside the cage he saw nothing amiss. The guard turned back around again, and it would be the last thing he'd ever do, for while he wasn't looking a strand of spider silk so thin and imperceptible that it was invisible to the naked eye was wrapped around his neck and garroted the Magelos who then collapsed to the ground.

"Who are you?" Caspond asked looking confused.

"A humble servant of the Overlords." Neia responded smiling proudly. "Now drink this."

Neia fed Caspond the red contents of a small bottle and the light of restoration soon enveloped him. Step one of the plan was infiltration, step two would have been disguise. Aside from their extra limbs Magelos don't look all that different from normal humans, so all they had to do to disguise Caspond as the Magelos was to cut off it's arms and have him wear the armor after shaving the hair off of his face. Ah but what about Caspond who was set to be tortured? The Garrot had a blood drinking enchantment placed on it, not only did it soak up all the blood in the Magelos's body but it also caused it to be reanimated as a zombie like creature under Neia's control, so they dressed it in Caspond's clothes and had it wear his beard hair like a face wig and no one would be able to tell the difference. For the record, none of this had been planned out. They had no way of knowing that the guard would resemble something human for starters, nor did they know what state Caspond would be in. That said Neia's instructions made it that she would not use the illusion scroll they gave her if she did not have to, as now she had another tool in her arsenal she could make use of. The messenger came for Caspond first and left with the zombie they had made, with that the real Caspond and Neia were free to go.

"Your masters must sure be something." Caspond noted looking pale.

"There's one now!" Neia stated as she looked down at the arena.

The spidan had been blasting Koriander one sided for quite some time now, at first he had simply been attacking her, but now the fear was clear on even his warped features.

"Come on now~!" Koriander stated in a sing song voice. "I'm just standing here tanking your magic attacks~! I literally cannot make things any easier for you~!" A dull electronic sound soon started to come out of the wands as they eventually refused to continue firing. With his weapons out of ammunition they eventually made a clatter as they just fell to the ground dead. "Ah puu, you're all out~!" Then a large scale magic circle emerged around Koriander who had her arms held out wide. "My turn!" Koriander stated a certain eagerness and blood lust having emerged in her tone of voice.

"HIYAAAHH!" All the members of the coalition had been briefed on that magic. Super Tier, the power to cast the magics of a god carried a steep price, for during the precious moments of the spell's casting it's wielder is completely vulnerable to all weapons and all magics. If they see someone casting that magic then they are to kill them immediately. Thus the Spidan pulled out a knife and ran up to Koriander and plunged it clean into her head. Or so he thought.

"Muahahahahaha!" Koriander let out that malevolent laughter as she grabbed hold of the spidan's arm, followed by dispersing the illusion she created in the image of a super tier casting. "Herculean Strength." Casting that magic, Koriander used newly acquired vastly increased strength to pull the spidan into a bear hug, in spite of it's efforts to get away that is. "Now now. Stop struggling you're only die faster at this rate."

"HIIIIIIIIIEEEEE!" The Spidan shrieked as his arms flailed about beating on Koriander and it's legs desperately tried to pull away. In vain it should be noted. "Ah... eh!" A loud snap echoed at the spidan's body folded in on itself and was collapsed on the ground.

"I came here to fight Jaldabaoth's champion...! I'm waiting!" That seemed to whip the crowd into a frenzy, and a pteropus, a pterodactyl like demi-human, rose up in it's place.

"Your master is quite terrifying." Caspond stated looking rather wide eyed.

"Oh that's not my master, that's just his sister." Neia stated before she sneaked away. "Come they're too distracted to notice us."

Zombie Caspond was brought onto a place up high overlooking the arena where he was tied up and several magic casters lined up ready to let loose the pain.

"Now for your viewing pleasure! The Prince of genocide Caspond Bessarez!" Lightning magic was loosed from the staffs against the Zombie on a stick, it convulsed but it didn't seem to have as satisfying a response as what it should have had, but that made the torturers suspicious. They pulled the cheap wig off and revealed the slit throat left behind on the Magelos. "He's escaped!" The Arena announcer shouted in shock.

"Sounds like we should use this now." Neia tied the scroll to an arrow and fired it over the wall. The magic activated and the illusion of a army of Roble Paladins appeared on the other side. "Invaders! We're under attack!" Neia shouted into a voice amplifying horn before she grabbed Caspond and quickly moved him away from the front of the base where the Demi Humans were now gathering to defend it.

* * *

"I'm sorry. But I'm afraid I can't let any of you leave here." Koriander stated as another Super Tier Magic appeared.

"It's just a trick! Ready you're arrows and shoot her down! Don't get close to her!" The announcer shouted as the Demi-humans readied their means of attack, arrows, spears, magic, some of them even picked up their seats to throw at her.

"In exchange for killing this mediocre champion Jaldabaoth promised Mercy! I make no such offer!" For Koriander this was very convenient, as not even she wanted to risk casting this spell at close range. "Blizzicane!" Shouting that, a snowy tornado appeared in the middle of the arena, Leaving Koriander safely in the eye of the storm. The Demi-Humans on the other hand found themselves on the receiving end of a flash freeze, picked up into the air along with their shoddy construction, and chucked hard into the ground. Those that weren't caught in the icy storm fled for their lives. "Run for your lives! Run to your master! And Tell him His Days Are Numbered!" Koriander shouted terrorizing the surviving Demi-Humans into submission.

"Nice performance." Caspond stated clapping his hands together. "But can we leave now?"

"Give me a moment." Koriander slammed the butt of her staff into the ground and a magic circle moved under them. They were bathed in light and soon they had appeared outside of Khagakur fortress.

"Sorry about this your majesty just a medical consultation you understand." The group was greeted by Nabe, who looked the prince up and down once, before she slammed her fist into the prince's face hard enough to send him flying. Remedios who was standing nearby grabbed Nabe by her robe to throttle her but Neia's words stopped her.

"That's not the prince!" Neia shouted getting her bow ready.

Indeed, Caspond's face had been cartoonishly squashed into itself.

"So I was found out in a instant." The fake Caspond stuck his finger into his mouth and puffed his cheeks which miraculously inflated his face back to the way it was before. "I suppose I should expect nothing less from a fellow Doppleganger." Fake Caspond stated as he brushed himself off. "But unfortunately for all of you I will be leaving now." At this, Fake Caspond transformed into a identical version of the current Koriander who was dressed as a saint of the holy Roble Kingdom. "With all your power I will... will..." Then the doppleganger collapsed to the ground, it's body starting to melt.

"Now Now." Koriander blocked the Doppleganger's line of sight. "Can't let you go around copying someone weaker and escaping after all." A quirk of a Doppleganger's biology is that they could assume the form and the abilities of anyone that they see, but only on their own level. If a doppleganger copies someone who was weaker then them then it would produced a stronger version of that person, if they copied someone equal to power to them then they would only be four fifths as strong, and if they copied someone stronger than them well... "The anti-magic tattoo's take a little while to get use to don't they? They probably drain hundreds of points of magical energy per second after all. I honestly can't remember, the rate my body replenishes magical energy is well... so monstrous that I can't tell to put it mildly." Standing up, Koriander smiled as she looked down at the Doppleganger. "But that isn't all is it? You also have my mind don't you?" In spite of it's face melting away, the doppelganger could only stare back at Koriander in sheer unadulterated terror. "Oh that's right. You already know all the horrible things I'm gonna do to you don't you?"

"Please..." The Doppelganger begged as it looked Koriander in the eyes a desperate pleading look on it's face. "Mercy..."

"I can't hear you~!" Koriander stated cupping her hand over her ear.

"Mercy!"

"One more time~!"

"MERCYYYY!"

* * *

Thanks to Koriander's interrogation of the Doppelganger they were able to locate the real Prince Caspond and bring him, or rather what was left of him, back to their base. The thing that Nabe dropped in front of of the members of the Roble Rebellion was a giant block of ice, at it's center was the vague silhouette of a human body. Remedios brushed the frost off of the surface and confirmed the identity of the person within.

"It's the prince!" Remedios snapped glaring down at the ice block. "What did they do to him? Why do this at all!?"

"There are several possibilities." Balloma explained as she scratched her chin. "Based on what we already know: they likely intended to reveal that the Caspond that we rescued was a doppelganger at an appropriate time throwing our ranks into chaos because we let a doppelganger into the upper echelons of our ranks. This method specifically? It would preserve the body until such a time that they decided to put it to use."

"Course if you do it right it would literally force them to think about the last thing they saw up until they thawed out." Koriander pointed out shrugging her shoulders. Remedios took another look at the frozen prince and indeed saw the look of sheer horror on his face. "But I digress. I believe our time would be better spent on thawing him out than trying to guess the way that he died."

"For once we agree." Remedios stated as she drew her sword and started chipping the prince out.

* * *

 **Review Section** :

rmarcano321: It was in the light novel, go on the wiki and look up Zoastra. Not that I know of, I'm mostly working on Light Novel information at the moment.


	54. Chapter 54

**Author's Note** : Not much to say right now. Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 54: The Alliance

Caspond was alive, bed ridden but alive. He was haunted by Horrific nightmares, of watching his people tortured right before his eyes at the hands of the demi-humans and of his time spent in the afterlife, where after being hung on a meat hook he was left to burn alive for months. Since some time ago Koriander had been taking samples from him, prodding him with magic spells, and the whole time she had this displeased look on her face. Finally Caspond worked up the nerve to ask about his fate.

"I'm going to die aren't I?" Caspond asked looking Koriander with a knowing look in his eyes.

"Do you remember your time in the afterlife?" Koriander asked cocking a brow.

"I recall being used as a lantern by a bunch of skeletons." Caspond stated a angered twitch in his eye.

"For the first hundred years of your sentence in the underworld you're used as a torch. The idea is to burn off any extra life force that you carry with you into the afterlife and return it to the land of the living, that's the reason why it's necessary for revivals to happen as soon as possible, irregardless of the condition of the body." There really was no point in preserving the body for so long.

"I see. Is there a way of treating this?" Caspond asked cocking a brow at Koriander.

"If you could kill enough things off and gather their life force then it wouldn't be a problem. But you can't do that can you?" Caspond was too weak to swing a sword, it would be different if he was a magic caster but he wasn't.

"No. Not at the moment." Caspond replied letting out a sigh.

"Well if you want to try I can cast a bunch of buffs on you and summon some monsters for you you to kill, that will start getting your life force back up." Koriander stated shrugging her shoulders. "In any case, we need to prepare for the next assault." At that moment Yuri walked in and whispered something into her ear. "Well now that is interesting isn't it?"

* * *

Kieran and Balloma were standing outside of Khagakur's walls looking down at a filthy slimy thing that had approached them. It was a Demi-human called a filth eater, a disgusting slime/slug like creature that as it's name suggested ate filth, garbage, dung and the like. Aside from being repulsive, other features included being too weak to pose any threat in a melee contest.

"Kill them now." Remedios spat out without a single drop of remorse.

"Is that your solution to everything?" Balloma asked cocking a brow at Remedios.

"Do you have any idea the kinds of diseases these things are carrying?" Remedios asked drawing a sword and singling out one of the filth eaters. "They were sent here to get everyone in the base sick!"

The Filth Eaters backed away holding their appendages up, they tried to clear a path revealing a group of humans who were laid out on stretchers. The humans were covered in boils and looked extremely weak, seemingly confirming Remedios's words.

"I will be the judge of that!" Koriander announced with Yuri pushing a wheel chair bound Caspond in tow.

"Prince Caspond you're still..." Remedios started, mostly out of shock, before being cut off by Caspond.

"I'm dying Remedios. I won't die slower in a Hospital bed." Caspond stated looking over their guests. "What can you do for them?" Caspond asked looking at the sickly humans.

"Hmm. A little health potion should do the trick. Before that though I will be harvesting those boils." Koriander stated as Yuri took several empty vials and went over to the sick and injured.

"Their boils?" Caspond asked looking confused.

"Based on Remedios's reaction I assume that you've had encounters with the Filth Eater's and their diseases before yes?" Balloma asked to which Caspond nodded in the affirmative. "Have you ever noticed that individuals who got sick and survived either didn't get sick again or were resistant towards it later on?" Caspond thought about it for a moment before he nodded in the affirmative.

"The more diseases you're exposed to, the more resistant to them you become. Koriander can harvest that resistance from them before she gives them potions to treat their illnesses." Now Balloma turned her attention to the Filth Eaters. "If you intend to infect us with some kind of disease then I'm afraid it won't work." The filth eaters shook what approximated for a head for them. "So you came to offer your aid. I'm sorry but we don't have any room for those who don't intend to fight." The Filth Eaters gestured to the sickly people, as if to indicate the illnesses they could spread. "That might come in handy." Balloma commented scratching her chin. The Filth eaters were now frantically gesturing over a nearby hill as if it would somehow prove their innocence.

"I'll check it out." Kieran stated as he was quickly joined by Neia. On other side of the hill there was another group of Demi-Humans, a eel sticking out of the front of a giant blue maggot like a centaur, The Zern. "Alright your buddies already gave you up." Kieran stated drawing a fire blade and pointing it at the group of bug like Demi-humans accusingly. "Yield or die!" Immediately the Zern threw up mantis like blades pointing them into the air and remained motionless, a clear surrender. "Yield it is." Kieran commented resting his blade on his shoulder.

"Are we taking them and the filth eaters into custody?" Neia asked as she lowered her bow towards the ground.

* * *

Koriander was performing some basic modifications on the Filth eaters, eliminating the dangerous diseases inside of their bodies which made it safe for them to enter the fortress.

"Explain this to me please." Kieran asked sitting at a table in the tavern. "Why are you here?"

"The Filth Eaters have no combat ability, so Jaldabaoth tried to have them wiped out." A Zern explained, it seemed that the Filth Eater's had no ability to communicate in human tongues so these Zern were translating for them. "They know the tunnels that run beneath these lands and they can guide your people."

"Well that explains why we should keep them around. But why are you here?" Kieran asked cocking a brow. "Our species are being held hostage by having our males held hostage." One of the Zern explained clacking her jaws.

"Your males? All of them?" Kieran asked cocking a brow suspiciously.

"Males are very rarely born among our numbers, we can change our genders but it requires that our males are dead first." The Zern explained tapping her claws against the table. "But our males aren't dead they're being held hostage, we can't reproduce like this." The Zern explained clenching clawed fists.

"Hmm." Kieran thought about the situation closely. "Rather then launching a full frontal assault using our full forces, it would be more beneficial to send in certain elite forces to divide the enemy forces up and hammer them in one by one. If we can increase the number of his enemies at the same time, then that should further our own goals."

"Are you going to order a attack on one of the Jaldabaoth's fortresses?" Neia asked raising her hand into the air. "No, let's pick out a few other targets too and take them all apart at the same time. In any case." Kieran turned to look to the filth eaters. "Those tunnels you were talking about, do they go into where these males are being held hostage?" The Filth Eaters nodded their heads. "Good. If we include the Zern and a Filth Eater to act as guides then we'll have room for about one more." Kieran looked over across the bar where a certain automaton who was cleaning a rifle was located.

* * *

The underground tunnels led the group consisting of a Filth Eater, a Zern envoy and CZ Delta into the base of a Demi-human army, nearing the entrance was a rather disturbing sigh, Zern corpses had been exploded from the inside out and their exo-skeletons were spread out spread eagle style.

"What happened here?" Neia asked staring in shock at the warped exoskeletons. CZ grabbed Neia's collar and pulled her back as a fresh corpse was about to land on top of her. "Thanks." Neia stated prompting CZ to silence her with one of her fingers before pointing upwards. High above them a butterfly like creature was flying away from them. "Have you ever seen a creature like that before?" Neia asked prompting CZ to shake her head in the negative.

"Let us get to our enemy shall we?" CZ attached a grapple to the end of her rifle and aimed it at the top of the hole they found themselves at the bottom of before firing and using it to ascend at a rapid rate. Pushing a grate up Neia and CZ surveyed the area, Zern were huddled together in fear as the butterfly like creatures lowered down to pick one of the Zern up and carried her off. "Hang on." CZ opened her rifle and inserted something that resembled a sniper's scope into the barrel before locking the weapon back together. CZ took aim in the direction of where the butterfly had flown off to and fired, the round was lodged into a wall and CZ started tampering with her eye patch and received the feed from the round. "There's a Incubus, it's..." As if on cue a ear piercing shriek of pain echoed throughout the camp. "Breeding with the captive Zern." It was a common tactic for the Demons, using prisoners to breed shock troops, when the children are born male they are sent to invade the civilian cities of the enemies to capture females and impregnate them, when born female they become gifts to the troops as a reward for exceptional feats in battle, where they work to provide more troops. "Based on what the Zern said most of the offspring are going to be born female, then that means..." Suddenly one of the Zern started to twitch, before a arm tore out from within the Zern like a cocoon before a four armed female figure wrapped with exoskeleton like armor with butterfly wings emerged. "That would explain it." The two slipped down on the rope and hid in the darkness deep into the pit, watching as the grate was removed and the corpse of the Zern was tossed down below. "It's like the factory." CZ commented neutrally.

"'The Factory?'" Neia asked cocking a suspicious brow.

"A facility that automatically produces things." CZ commented causing a disturbed look to crease Neia's features.

"Like... soldiers?" Neia commented sounding scared.

"Correct." CZ commented as the two of them climbed back to the top of the pit.

"So how do we stop this 'Factory?'" Neia asked peering through the masses.

"We also have to rescue our people!" The Zern Ambassador stated climbing up next to the pair.

"Not to put a damper on that train of thought but..." Neia realized that most of these Zern was already pregnant with fatal demon spawn.

"It shouldn't be a problem." CZ commented prompting a look of surprise from Neia.

"Our mistress Koriander will be able to remove them with no harm to their mothers." CZ commented over looking the area. "The question is what do we do?" The possibility that the Incubus was a summon was high, eliminating him would simply be redundant. What they really needed was the individual who summoned him: the possibility of it being Jaldabaoth was high. "Firstly, we must determine the strength of the opposition." CZ used her scope to assess the Succubi-Zern. Sixty five on average, as a rule levels were half the mother's plus half of the father's, the average of the Zern were forty, which meant that the incubus breeding these things was a ninety. They hoped that he was Jaldabaoth's summon, that would mean that someone else in his army was strong enough to produce high tier summons if he wasn't. "Do the Zern have any racial abilities we should be worried about?" CZ asked concerned. "If it combines with the strong bodies and high intelligence of the Succubi it could produce a bad combination."

The Death Knights Koriander could mass produce were level thirty, level sixty when she takes the time to spam demons to possess them, which made the troops Jaldabaoth were mass producing slightly stronger then the ones Koriander could mass produce.

"We have a good affinity for elemental magic." The Zern ambassador explained causing CZ to hold her chin. "Alright, we'll wait until the summon expires and see who comes to replace it. In the mean time though..."

Solution was called over who using her slimy body sneaked through the Zern and secretly performed a number of abortions on the bug people. The hybrid fetus's were apparently quite delicious. Eventually the Incubus disappeared and as if on cue the familiar form of a hulking brute of a demon with wings and a head of fire flew over to replace him.

"Master." One of the Succubi-Zern that seemed to have been acting as a overseer for the facility arrived in front of Jaldabaoth and gave a bow.

"The progress on the production of the concubines?" Jaldabaoth asked cocking a brow suspiciously at the Succubi-Zern.

"All of the Zern here has been impregnated, for the time being I don't believe another incubus is needed." Jaldabaoth took a look over the area.

"You need an eye exam." Saying that, Jaldabaoth produced a huge ball of plasma in his hand and sent it crashing down on top of the grate where Neia and the others were hiding. CZ grabbed Neia and slid down the rope to relative safety, the Zern Ambassador not so much.

"Move it!" Neia shouted before taking off running, sadly for their Filth Eater guide magic entered the corpses of the Zern deep below transforming them into bloated corpses, fat slug like creatures that had bits of sharp bone and exo-skeleton sticking out of them. Aside from attacking the Filth Eater though they did not chase after the escapees, Rather they then proceeded to gather together, stitch and staple themselves together, and created the form of a giant rotten franken dragon and chasing after the escapees. Jaldabaoth did not just leave his summon at that though, he infused the rotten monster with Acid sweat rapidly empowering the monster as it absorbed the supremely toxic liquid and let out a loud earth shattering roar. CZ made use of a magic scroll to produce a Gate Spell and pulled herself, Solution who had sneaked back into CZ's pack, and Neia through back to the fortress.

"I take it the mission to rescue the Zern Prince has failed?" Balloma asked cocking a disinterested brow.

* * *

 **Review Section** :

rmarcano321: Calling something the same thing over and over again can make things repetitive, mixing things up every once in a while makes things interesting. Here's hoping. I haven't been able to find the Web Novel to draw inspiration.


	55. Chapter 55

**Author's Note** : Five, if all goes according to plan there will only be five chapters left until this story goes on hiatus/is finished until further notice. So Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 55: The Siege of Loyts

Khagakur fortress was whirling with activity, the Overlords were working with the information that Neia, CZ and Solution brought with them, a army of demon demi-human hybrids, a corpse dragon that was now running around. The question became why.

"These little ghouls look pretty sturdy." Koriander commented looking through a glass observation tank where one of the fetus's that Solution brought back from the enemy camp was being kept. "I really wouldn't mind letting it grow up just to see what it does."

"How long would that take?" Remedios asked cocking a suspicious brow at Remedios.

"At it's current rate of development? I should take a couple of months. However there is magic to forcibly stuff hormones and protein into their bodies to accelerate growth until they pop out as fully grown adults." The Zern staying inside of the base lowered their heads in fear.

"Isn't that a problem for their mental development?" Balloma asked looking at Koriander's jar suspiciously.

"Concubi have the ability to relay information through physical contact, their parents receive their programming for loyalty towards Jaldabaoth through his summon, and they get their consciousness and programming from their parents." Koriander stated putting the jar down.

"So they're a ready made army just like your summons." Balloma turned her attention to Remedios. "Paladin, if Jaldabaoth releases this army then the time for play will have ended, we will be making use of our army of mass produced undead to counteract them." Balloma stated in a uncompromising tone of voice.

"Two hordes of monsters slaughtering each other while me and my men regroup?" Remedios asked in calculating tone of voice. "I have no problem with this plan."

Remedios and her lot had been slowly building power by repeatedly killing the Skull Boars that the group had summoned for her and her men to kill. The point that they could compete against Jaldabaoth's army of mass produced mooks with two to one odds was nearing. It also seems that someone was beating lessons on proper tactics into her head as well. Additionally though the race change to Dwelf's didn't affect the soldiers from Baharuth and Re-Estize any, their base stats did go up by quite a bit, and some were offering themselves for the conversion process. The other night Neia completed the process too, and she became something rather scary.

"If you have no complaints then I will have Koriander man the original base with undead." Balloma stated as she held her chin in her hand. "For now though we should be wondering about what Jaldabaoth is trying to do."

"Making a army of monsters doesn't count?" Remedios asked looking incredulous.

"He already had a army of monsters." Balloma pointed out with a eye roll.

"What if he's looking for a new body." Kieran asked prompting the others to look at him suspiciously. "At the end of the battle we destroyed his host body, he took a summon as a substitute, then we killed that too. What if he hasn't been able to find a body to hold on to his essence?"

"Kori, remind me, what do people usually do with Succubi?" Balloma asked turning to face Koriander. "They're typically given as gifts to high level demons. They get a nigh indestructible conduit for their lust, and the rulers of demon kind get the next generation of their warriors." Koriander stated with a shrug, though she already understood the implications of what was happening.

"Do you... mean to tell me... that this... _animal_ destroyed our home... Because he wanted a new suit!?" Remedios grasped the implications surprisingly quick.

"The strongest Demi-Humans distinguish themselves in combat, as a reward they receive high level mates, they produce children which are then awarded to stronger Demi-Humans." Koriander explained for the layman. "This cycle repeats itself until one strong enough to be Jaldabaoth's mate appears: Though the likelihood that he'll also summon something else to inject steroids into the bloodline every so often is also quite high."

"But wouldn't something like that take..."

"Ahem." Koriander interrupted Balloma and started tapping on the jar.

"'With the use of growth accelerating magics the young will reach adulthood within days.' Is this what your saying?" Balloma asked prompting Koriander to nod her head in confirmation. "Summon a subjugation force from Nazarick at once, the time has come for Jaldabaoth to meet the descendants of the man he made god."

"Does that mean we can get out of this Roble trash now?" Kieran asked gesturing to his armor.

"Might as well." Balloma stated prompting Kieran to leave to get changed.

"Even though you say we're going to go and wipe that place off the map, there is still one thing mentioned in Neia's report that will make for a huge obstacle." Koriander commented as she looked ominously on the horizon.

"What a coincidence I was just thinking the same thing." Balloma commented letting out a sigh.

"What is it? What are you talking about?" Remedios asked looking between the two half sisters concerned.

Speaking logically, Jaldabaoth should be stock piling magical power in order to go from one host body to the next, the fact that he sunk the majority of his magical power into that rot dragon meant only one thing. That Jaldabaoth had become the rot dragon itself. As a undead this rotten dragon would be different from the other creatures that he had summoned to use as host bodies, it had actual physical mass, it would not be dispersing any time soon, more to the point it's mass was simply too much to go unnoticed, if it hadn't emerged yet then that meant that he was still in the tunnels below that demon breeding facility. A sneak attack would be impossible, marching the army over to that place also meant that the rot dragon could appear and deal a huge number of casualties. Right now their main priority was to find a way of preventing Jaldabaoth from entering another host body and running away again. It was a even greater priority than killing that rot Dragon which Jaldabaoth had taken on as his current host.

"Well... I have a few ideas, but it will require that... sacrifices be made." Koriander stated as she grinned knowingly.

* * *

It took three days to transport a sufficient number of troops from the Katze plains, Koriander manufactured a few from the corpses of slain Demi-humans, but she warned not to get their hopes up too high. Knowing that she can manufacture high level troops, then it was important that they proceed with the understanding that the enemy would also know how to manufacture such troops. But for the sake of raising their chances of victory, The minions and their mounts were deployed in full force, Jaldabaoth would taste the depths of their resolve on this day and he would come to know their vengeance.

The army of the undead were spread out among the living troops of the Baharuth, Re-Estize and Minion armies. The Death Knights were borne of Dwelf Bodies, casualties from the training regime that didn't have enough life force to be revived, equipped with demonic souls, and rode on Soul Eater's manufactured from the corpses of cat like creatures, capable of climbing the sheer surfaces of un-spiked walls.

A Death General, a high ranking undead version of a Death Knight, had also been prepared, utilizing the corpse of a Raja Naga that was felled when the fortress was taken back, possessed by the soul of one of Ainz's vassals a Abyssal Lord, and riding a Soul Eater that was manufactured from one of Hybrid's of Griffin and Unicorn that had been prepared by the Shining Justice, and possessed by the soul of a demon horse known as a Keshi. The gigantic mass of negative energy that it would spew would serve to fuel and entire army of the undead, and the many command type racial skills at it's disposal would give the troops a massive boost in power, perhaps enough to defeat the rot dragon and it's army of half demons.

"Humans!" Rokesh made his presence known on top of the wall as he glared down on the army below. "Now I see you reveal your true colors!" Indeed he could barely see the Roble Hypocrites among all of the damned and undead, even he, a self proclaimed demon worshiper, could understand that holy power was wholly antithetical to the demonic and the undead, the very idea that they would be fighting alongside a self proclaimed holy kingdom was utterly ridiculous. And yet...

"The ridiculous one here is you snake. Your master has angered forces beyond comprehension and cowers behind you while your men die in droves before you. Yield or join their fate!" The Death General proclaimed aiming his sword at the Naga. "Funny you should mention my master..." To Rokesh's words the ground suddenly split open and a huge mass of festering rotten flesh made it's presence known rising up through the ground and tossing aside the army that had gathered on top of it.

"Men stand your ground! The monster that murdered our Queen stands before us." Remedios shouted hoisting her sword into the air. She wore a helmet at the moment, enchanted with a message spell that allowed her to stay in contact with Caspond who was acting through her.

"Give it hell!"

Neia unlocked a unique job class when she trained under Kieran: Sacred Archer, essentially the long range equivalent of a paladin. Considering the dramatically enhanced senses and physical abilities of a Dwelf having the newly converted troops of the Roble Kingdom learn how to use the abilities of the Sacred Archer seemed to be new brainer. Therefore, armed with the same combination of rune crafted bows and enchanted arrows as what Neia had been using, the newly founded order of Sacred Archers fired into the wings of the rot dragon. The wind fed into the fire, and the fire into the holy power that the Sacred Archers imbued into their arrows. The wings were burned off, the concentrated poison sweating off of the thing's body was set aflame with holy flame dealing huge damage across the board.

"Commander!" Remedios nodded her head and moved into position for stage two of their attack.

Stage one however was not yet over. Ropes tipped with arrows were fired into the body of the Rot dragon and held down by Death Knights.

"Rallying Force! Undead Will! Demonic Strength...!" The Death General started casting army wide buffs one after another, the army was swept with rainbow colored lights as the demonically possessed undead multiplied in physical stats several fold.

"Fire!" At the Paladin Commander's command a rather unique projectile was shot at the Rot dragon, Remedios herself. The paladin was loaded onto a catapult and sent flying through the air, sailing over the rotten army and the empowered paladins and arrived over the top of the rot dragon. "Evil SMITE!" The attack came down on the head of the rot dragon, stalling it's efforts to regenerate without it's ability to think properly, efforts were being stalled further by Remedios activating her holy sword and stabbed it into the back of the rot dragon and allowed gravity to take her to the bottom carving a trench through the beast's back. It was wounded, severely so, but as per the witches plan the killing blow had not been dealt as of yet.

"The rotten bastard is down! Enter the fortress!" Kieran shouted hoisting his blade into the air.

"That's my line." Remedios shouted as the mounted undead started scale the walls.

Remedios's suppressed fury and constant slaughtering of innocent summons had a unexpected side effect: she had turned into a berserker. A warrior who dulled their senses to pain and used rage to augment their physical striking power and stamina. Remedios reached her blade behind her and stabbed one Demi-Human behind her, swung the blade forward and slashed the one in front of her down the middle before spinning around and slashing more through their mid sections. Others were soon to follow tackling the enemy combatants with their mounts as spiders and Soul Eaters quickly climbed the walls, the Death General sprayed negative energy down on the enemy troops from above and exacerbated the injuries they were receiving as the rot rapidly set in. Clearly that undead had to go.

"Knock that undead bastard down!" The Raja Naga flew up into the air, but ominously enough none of the half demons that were suppose to be inside of the base dined to join them. Still it was no matter.

"Banshee blade!" Shouting the name of that Martial Art, the blade of the Death General started to vibrate with deadly sound.

The flying Soul Eater let out a pulse of deadly energy, a large number of the enemy simply dropped dead out of the sky, but many others did not. The possibility that Jaldabaoth had been practicing power leveling techniques as well was... high. Those that did not fall readied magic circles to strike back firing lances of white flame at the enemy before them. But they had a traitor in their midst, one of their own people who had altered the magics in their staffs so that instead of hitting their target they would veer slightly off course, some even collided with each other.

"Quicken pace!" Casting that magic on his Soul Eater the Death General took off like a bullet through the smoke cloud. The blade parted the Naga's from their lives, but they had not yet left this battlefield.

"The Hell!?" Some hapless Quoga watched as the Naga fell on some of their compatriots in the densely packed fortress. "HIIIIAAAA!"

They screamed in terror as immediately the Naga's were replaced by snake shaped Death Knight's who soon made short work of those who thought they were safe deep inside of the fortress. One monster in the air and another on the ground as the Paladin captain went out of her way to draw the ire of the Demi-humans on the ground, chopping heads, disemboweling torsos, parting limbs from body and the like.

"Come on you stupid bastards! I haven't even come close to feeling satisfied yet!"

Of course Remedios hadn't been allowed to merely stupidly charge in alone, she received various buffs from the minions reinforcing her body with the power of the earth, increasing her speed with the wind, coating her blade in flame and constantly casting healing magic on her, then she was allowed to charge in foolishly after receiving the fighting prowess of a small unit of commandos. Luckily for her she was directed into a corridor where Demi-Humans were being prodded into flinging themselves on her blade by fire minions, a recently learned martial art, Hate Reaction, a overwhelming mass of killing intent prodding the enemy into a fight or flight response, was working in her favor as well. With the enemy army preoccupied the full attention of Koriander and Kieran could now be focused on the dying rot dragon.

"Alright big guy you're up." Kieran stated as he slapped a Ogre forward. The Ogre in question seemed eager for battle as he clubbed his mace along on the ground and charged towards the rot dragon. "Hey sis are we sure this is gonna work?" Kieran asked leaning over to his sister.

"They're ready to evolve, all that they need is the missing ingredient and they're Oni." That missing ingredient, as Koriander explained, was demonic possession. If the essence of a demon was released into their veins then they in their current state would instantly evolve into Oni, and make no mistake Jaldabaoth was a demon. A side effect of that evolution though was a merger, of Jaldabaoth and the Ogre permanently becoming one: and Jaldabaoth losing his body swapping power. This time that they killed him they meant it to be permanent. "You're sure that this stuff will protect us right?" Kieran was not fond of the idea of Jaldabaoth taking their bodies instead of one of the Ogres. Not at all.

"Copper plated." Koriander stated turning around the inside of her cloak to reveal the brown metal inside. "Not even Jaldabaoth can get through this."

Yes copper was the weakest metal, it bent far too easily, it couldn't eat a attack to save it's life, it couldn't hold magic if the world depended on it. But it was also the only metal to actually repel magic, which is what Jaldabaoth without his body is made up of, and with no physical mass to say otherwise he wouldn't be possessing them. Similarly the entire army was outfitted with copper plated armor, undead included and Jaldabaoth's lackeys were falling like dominoes, so he wouldn't have any other bodies to fly into either. But there was one, tiny flaw in their plan.

"Attack! Carve it to pieces! Make him SCREAM!" Kieran flung his sword through the air, turning it into a flaming wheel, easily carving it through the Rot Dragon's corpse as chunks of rotting smoked meat were flung off and scattered to the winds. And yet... "Something's Wrong. He should've jumped ship by now." Kieran noted as he catch his blade.

"For once we agree." Koriander noted as she prepared a lance of fire in her hand. "Let's end this foolishness. If he wants to go to the abyss with his pet then so be it." Koriander had avoided doing anything flashy up until now because she wanted to avoid leaving herself vulnerable in front of Jaldabaoth. But if her new theory was correct that was not possible. Holding her hands together Koriander was surrounded by the multiple magic circles of a super tier spell. And From 'Jaldabaoth' nothing. No sudden fearful reaction to a massive amount of violence about to be dumped on his head, no look of glee as he saw his hated enemy vulnerable for the first time, nary the slightest damn about anything outside of freeing himself of the bindings that meant to trap him. "Fallen Down!" Casting that super tier magic that can eat a massive chunk of a enemies health, Koriander blasted the rot dragon with a huge mass of holy power reducing it to bits, and those bits into cinders.

"Koriander?" Kieran asked his and his sister's suspicions all but confirmed.

"He ain't in there." Koriander stated letting out a rather deep sigh. "Doubt he ever was."

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 **Review Section** :

rmarcano321: The whole Holy demonic army thing? Yah kinda. The website is not listed there. I don't think Fanfiction allows posts to outside websites. Well yeah kinda, it is described as a crap-sack world for a reason.


	56. Chapter 56

**Author's Note** : Happy Easter Weekend! With any luck I'll be spending mine playing Darksiders 3, so wish me luck! Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy!

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Chapter 56: Rainbow Scales

Rokesh sat a top a throne glaring at the door in front of him wearing enchanted articulated plate mail armor. A smell not unlike Acid going through metal wafted into the room as smoke appeared from the door. Finally a blade shape was rammed through the lock as the door swung open. Several distinctive heal clicks echoed out as six individuals entered the room, five of them Rokesh recognized.

"So the traitors have appeared before me to beg for mercy." Rokesh commented looking at Yuri, Lupis, Nabe, Solution, CZ and Entoma. "Sorry to disappoint you, but my master is not here for you to through yourselves at his feet."

"You misunderstand snake, we are not here for your master." Yuri stated speaking through the severed head of a Magelos.

"We're all yours." Beta stated playfully twirling around her massive cross shaped war ax.

"Really now? Is that a fact?" The Naga picked up a Tower shield to his left and a trident to his right as he got up to face the group of intruders. "Well. Here I am."

"Bug Bullet." Speaking that Entoma waved one arm in front of the Naga and from her sleeve a huge number of bullet shaped projectiles were fired at the Dragon Snake.

"Is that it?" The Naga asked cocking a brow suspiciously. "Dragon Scale." The air in front of Rokesh made waves like a mirage as he was suddenly coated in a layer of intensive heat and the bugs were incinerated in the air in front of him. "An Ento-Mancer Arachne? That's one."

CZ whipped out her gun and fired her bullet's at Rokesh, but his adamantine tower shield blocked her projectiles. At the same time Solution crept through her shadow into his and attacked him from below with several long winding tendrils of acid, the liquid coming off of Solutions body protecting her from the flames in the same way the heat that came off of Rokesh protected him from Entoma. Sadly the acid also couldn't eat through Rokesh's draconic scales, at best they cleaned the dirt and grim off of him after spending the day tearing into his undead former comrades.

"Automaton sniper, and a Assassin slime. Three." Rokesh noted as he coated the head of his trident in fire and stabbed it below.

"Hang on Lupis I'll buff you." Yuri stated as she readied several heads of Demi Human magic casters. "Body of Effulgent Beryl! Fly! Bless of Magic Caster! Infinity Wall! Magic Ward: Water! Life Essence! Greater Life Essence! Full Potential! Greater Full Potential! Freedom! Paranormal Intuition! Resistance! Greater Resistance! Mantle of Chaos! Indomitably! Sensor Boost! Luck! Greater Luck! Draconic power! Hardening! Greater Hardening! Absorbtion! Penetrate up! Magic Shield! Greater Magic Shield! Mana Essence!" Though a ridiculous number of magics, the fact that Yuri was using multiple heads to cast them had the effect of allowing her to cast several at once, but as a consequence of casting so many magics her magical power had been drained.

"Dullahan, support type. Three." Rokesh muttered getting his shield ready.

"Take a break Yuri I got this one!" Lupis took her sister's rainbow of magic buffs and added on top of that a transformation into a large werewolf creature. Lupis took off into the air with a leap and brought down her ax in a flying chop. To give Lupis credit she did more damage then the others as her ax tore through Rokesh's shield and even cracked his scales below. However discarding his broken shield Rokesh grabbed hold of Lupis's weapon and prepared to use it to slam her into the ground. Lupis let go of her weapon of her own accord and slammed her claws into Rokesh's skull drawing a little blood in the process.

"Fighter Werewolf. Four." Rokesh sent Lupis flying across the room with her own ax. However she floated down to a safe landing and with a wave of her arm her weapon came flying back to her. "And it has a recall charm in place too." Solution sprung her tentacles again and wrapped them around Rokesh, at the same time Neia and CZ readied their ranged weapons, Neia with her two part combo bow and CZ with her machine gun. CZ opened fire on Rokesh using Armor piercing rounds to try and break his armor, Neia let off another of her mini-warhead arrows that Rokesh intercepted by blasting at the arrow with fire breath causing it to detonate prematurely. "Dwelf Archer, Automaton sniper. Alright time to end this."

With that Rokesh stopped wasting his time learning the species and jobs of his enemies. He tore his arms free of the tentacles and slammed his tri-pointed weapon into Solution. Activating the magic within his trident the water inside of Solutions body was sucked out of her causing Solution to wither away back into the shadow that she came out of and appeared behind CZ. Pointing his trident at the girls Rokesh activated the magic in his trident again, converting the trapped water inside of the trident into hydrogen and oxygen and fired a concentrated beam of super heated gas at the girls.

"Nuh ah! Not happening!" Lupis jumped in front of her sisters and used the ax to deflect the attack, instead it pushed her backwards even as she dug her feet into the ground and with all of Yuri's buff's backing her up. Rokesh followed up his beam attack by swinging his tail around and slamming it into the group of enemies. Nabe moved to intercept it with a blow to the tail, her clay like body cartoonishly squished. At the same time she cast a healing spell on Lupis who had burned her hands blocking the attack from Rokesh.

"A doppleganger monk. Well that's what I get for ignoring the human." Rokesh commented planting the butt of his trident into the ground.

"Anyone got any ideas?" Neia asked as she readied her bow to attack again but was stopped by Nabe who waved a blade with a dragon's head pommel in front of her face. "That'll work." Yuri took the blade in her hands as she and the others surrounded the Snake Man.

The Snake dragon looked to his left, and then to his right.

"Come." Lupis was the first to strike slamming her ax at Rokesh who blocked with the head of his trident and locked the weapon with the ax head. Gripping the trident with both hands Rokesh swung it, the Ax, and Lupis around and had them slam head long into Solution.

"I'm feeling a little dehydrated over here." Solution stated as her human form indeed looked a little shriveled up.

"Hang on I'll-" Rokesh cut Yuri off with another fire blast attack incinerating all of the severed heads that she had gathered.

"Not much good without your extra heads are you?" Rokesh swung his tail around to smack behind him which was promptly grabbed by Nabe who assumed the form of a ogre to make herself too heavy to swing around. Her opening met Neia readied her bow with a new arrow head, and blasted Rokesh not with fire but with freezing cold air creating a light layer of frost on his scales, frost that Rokesh quickly thawed by using the heat his body was giving off. "You will have to try harder then that!" Rokesh snapped as his face came under machine gun fire from CZ.

Though his scales were as hard as a dragon's his eyes were normal eyes made out of flesh, a glaring weak point in his tank like body. Assessing his options Rokesh went with his best, Rokesh closed his eyes as he activated several stat boosting martial arts. Rokesh released his trident, used Nabe as a anchor to spring himself forward like a serpent striking and punched out Lupis before taking both her ax and his trident and using the latter to anchor himself to the ground. Using every muscle in his body Rokesh swung Nabe around like a flail and slammed her down on top of the others. At the same time he took a swing at Neia and CZ with Lupis's ax. Finally making use of the dragon wings on his back Rokesh took off into the air and unleashed fiery hell on the people below.

"Hang on I'll give that nasty morning breath a mint!"

Neia shot one of her frost arrows directly into the fire breath, the hot and cold air mixed together into a huge twister that lowered the temperature of the room and left Rokesh snow blind. Not wasting a opportunity when she saw one Neia fired more of the frost arrows directly at Rokesh and the incredible heat he was giving off. The alternating cold and hot air were wearing down the quality of his armor, by the time he realized what they were trying to do CZ had reloaded and continued to fire, and this time her bullets shatter his scales.

"If that is the case..." Rokesh dive bombed CZ and slammed his fist into her face, letting out a loud cracking sound as the porcelain that made up her face shattered. However Yuri took full advantage and stabbed the dragon slayer blade into the crack in Rokesh's armor. "RRRAAGGH!" Rokesh smacked Yuri aside with on of his arms and ripped the blade out. Focusing his hot air on his wound Rokesh cauterized the injury shut. "Cute attempt." Rokesh chucked the blade out the nearest window. "But My patience wears thin."

"What is with this unreasonably tough Overlord!?" What happened to the intel report that said that they passed down all the heavy lifting to their war chiefs? This guy was a monster in every sense of the word. "So much for our secret weapon, he tossed it out the window!" Neia lamented as she notched another arrow.

"Then let's toss him out the window too." Saying that Lupis activated the recall function of her ax, sent it flying back at her, and flung Rokesh out the window. Course he having wings it didn't bother him that much, Until Nabe climbed up his tail and grabbed him by his wings and forcibly held them back so that they couldn't flap and keep him aloft anymore.

"RRRAAAAGGGHHH!" Rokesh hit the ground to the tune of several broken bones, Nabe splattered across the ground but it didn't affect her as much as she just pulled herself back together a moment later and stared Rokesh down. "Errg." Rokesh rolled his shoulders as fire consumed parts of his body cauterizing his wounds and welding his bones back together. But before he could finish his phoenix like repairs he got shield bashed into the nearest wall by a ogre Death Knight. "The longer this goes on, the more irritated I get." Rokesh stated as he rose up and glared at his enemy, noticing the familiar poisonous liquid that coated the undead monster's body. "Burn." Rokesh spat his fire breath at his former subordinate and with a bang he was consumed into flame, but through the smoke and ash a blade slashed down on Rokesh through the flame.

After all a Death Knight is a undead that can keep on fighting with one point of health left. And one point of health he had, Rokesh rammed his trident through the head of the Ogre Death Knight and it's arms slumped to the side dead, followed shortly thereafter by pushing it backwards. Rokesh started to breath heavily as he watched the hoard of his former soldiers turned undead surrounded him. Using his trident Rokesh sucked the water out of the Ogre's corpse and aimed the fully loaded trident at the undead army. One good hydrogen blast to set all of them and the poison on fire.

"I seem to recall telling the seven of you to take him alive." Kieran stated as the army of undead parted to make way for him. Nabe returned to her human form and bowed to Kieran as a sign of submission. "Buddy you look like you're on death's door." As Kieran said that he could see parts of Rokesh's body glowing as the broken bones welded themselves back together and his wounds were being burned closed. "I suggest you calm down, before someone calms you down."

"I'm afraid you're gonna have to kill me for tha-!" Kieran landed a single blow on Rokesh.

The Ki inside of Kieran's fist went into Rokesh's body and started bouncing around the walls of his abnormally large defenses dealing damage to his internal organs in the process until blood started to come out of his mouth and he fell over.

"What was that about taking him alive!?" Neia shouted while she and the others were lowered down from the top of the tower using Solution as a rope.

"Here." Kieran tossed Nabe his potion horn. "Help the army mop up this mess, me and this fellow has some words to exchange." Saying that Kieran left the battlefield dragging Rokesh's body all the way back to the base camp, the sight of their leader's bruised and battered body being dragged back to the camp caused the enemy to surrender at once. Makeshift cuffs for Rokesh were made by snapping chains together around his body using locks binding his arms to his neck and tying up his body with the chains. Cocytus walked in first and put a chair down in front of the dragon snake followed shortly thereafter by Balloma entering the tent and sitting down in it.

"Hello Rainbow Scales. Let's talk."


	57. Chapter 57

**Author's Note** : An important announcement, I've decided that this will be one of five chapters left until the story goes on hiatus again. So with the countdown started, Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy!

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Chapter 57: Negotiation

Sebas pored two cups of tea before Balloma, across from her sat the chained up form of 'Rainbow Scales' Rokesh. Aside from the tea Balloma also had a basket of biscuits placed before the giant snake dragon person. Rokesh assessed the situation, he was chained up and thrown at the feet of his enemies, if they wanted to drug or poison him then they could have done so while he was unconscious, or failing that they could have used that ridiculously strong person to force open his jaws and dump whatever unpleasant substance they wanted to hit him with down his throat, so the food should have been safe to eat.

"If you mean for me to eat I will need these." Rokesh stated gesturing with his still cuffed hands.

"You also need them to part my throat from my neck so I'm going to say to that no thank you." Balloma stated bluntly as she used her finger to wave over a blonde haired human. "This is Tsuare, think of her as your hands."

"Biscuit or tea?" Tsuare asked as she walked up to Rokesh with one of each in either hand.

Rokesh responded by snapping at Tsuare with his full mouth, missing Tsuare by a hair's breath.

"You're a brave one aren't you?" Rokesh didn't have to bite at someone to hurt them, as far as he knew they hadn't done anything that would impede his fire breathing glands, rather this was a suspicion that he had just confirmed.

"Not really. I have simply witnessed horrors so far beyond imagine that I no longer fear death."

That interested Rokesh.

"One of our camps?" Rokesh asked cocking a vaguely interested brow.

"No, the Re-Estize capital." Tsuare stated shrugging her shoulders.

"Biscuit." Rokesh stated and Tsuare raised the piece of bread up and allowed Rokesh to take it all in.

"Some tea would help make it taste better." Tsuare stated as she watched Rokesh swallow the bread whole.

"Luke Warm leaf water." Rokesh stated in a corrective tone. "My taste buds are about half as sensitive as yours." The snake stuck his tongue out in the air. "There is a pleasant aroma in the air, but I suspect that has more to do with her perfume then your tea."

"I see. So would you prefer some cold water then?" Tsuare asked resulting in a nod from Rokesh.

Balloma gestured to Sebas with a flick of her head and the butler left for parts unknown.

"Some how I doubt that Buser was treated this nicely." Rokesh stated as he gauged the two women suspiciously.

"No Buser was killed on the spot." Balloma stated as Sebas came back in with a pitcher of water. "His death served our purposes, yours can too but so can your life."

"Well at least you're honest." Rokesh stated letting out a sigh. "And what purpose would my life serve?"

"Jaldabaoth. He murdered our grandfather and we can't let it go un-answered." Balloma stated in a uncompromising tone of voice.

"Well that was a short life." Rokesh stated sounding like he was resigned to die.

"Giving up so soon?" Balloma asked cocking a suspicious brow.

"No offense meant mam but currently the only thing keeping all of us from killing each other is our fear of what our benevolent leader will do to us if we don't do what he tells us to." Rokesh explained letting out a exhausted sigh. "Assuming that we don't wipe ourselves out first your allies in the Holy army will do it for us."

"It is our intention to take over your lands and reorganize the lot of you, your neighbors in the Roble Kingdom included, into a form we deem suitable to our needs." Balloma stated as she cracked her fingers.

"What sort of needs are those?" Rokesh asked cocking a suspicious brow.

"A happy and stable populace for starters, and a hated enemy that needs to be killed in the most terrible manner that we can imagine." Balloma stated looking Rokesh straight in the eye.

"You sound a lot like Jaldabaoth." Rokesh stated cocking a suspicious eye. "Why should I believe that teaming up with you is a better idea then staying with him?"

"Because as far as he's concerned you're already obsolete." Balloma snapped her fingers and Cocytus dragged in the corpse of one of the Succu-Zern and threw it before Rokesh. "Your war is little more than a filter for Jaldabaoth to begin cherry picking bits for a new body. What happens to your lot when he gets what he wants?"

"He will still need a army." Rokesh stated not sounding convinced.

"He will have one." Balloma once again gestured to the corpse on the ground. "But I doubt any of you will be a part of it."

"Were that true, what good does swearing our loyalty to you do us?" Tsuare offered Rokesh the pitcher of water, he took it in his teeth and drank down it's contents.

"The fields of the Katze plains have been converted into a massive farm with it's production of edible materials having been augmented with the use of various magics. We mostly use undead laborers to pick the fields." Balloma explained thinking back on her business model.

"'Mostly?'" Rokesh asked cocking a suspicious brow.

"We also use plant types like Dryads to over see the growing process." Balloma added shrugging her shoulders. "It frees the people up to partake in more detail oriented work such as black smithing and alchemy, also unlike the undead my sister mass produces and the demons that your master mass summons humans, human subspecies and Demi Humans such as yourself have the ability to grow their power over time."

"So you summon monsters and have your people kill them to increase their power?" Rokesh had a understanding of how the humans his army were fighting against were so powerful.

"We use other methods too but yes that is the gist of it." Balloma stated with a shrug of her shoulders, opting to not reveal the existence of Dwelf Dhampire's yet. "Well I have business I need to attend to. I'll have Tsuare and Sebas show you around the camp and you can decide for yourself who you want to leave your people's fate in."

On that note, the snake dragon was loaded onto a pallet and carted around by his captors. The prisoners, his men, were being made to clean up around the base, his fortress. Under the instruction of dwarfs the walls were being rebuilt and upgraded to a higher standard of quality then what the Demi-Humans were capable of before. Under the instruction of elven druids they were tearing up a large amount of the ground and replacing it with crops for growing edible foods, of course most Demi-Humans didn't actually eat fruits and vegetables. However cattle had been prepared such as cows and pigs, and in a method the demi-humans were already familiar with their limbs and other chunks of meat were being hacked off and regrown via health potions. The underground tunnels were being cleaned up and converted into prisons and bunkers to keep Rokesh's men in when use of them weren't being made and for a place to keep the invaders relatively comfortable.

"Shift change!" To that shout one group of laborers left the fields and construction work and another took their place, they weren't being overworked and by the looks of things their injuries from the battle were being treated properly. Other upgrades included iron gates which were being kept in front of dragons who were ready to set people on fire through the bars on command, for added flammability spouts on top of the gates were ready to spray anyone fool enough to charge the gate with tar. Unlike the failure at Khagakur the pipes were not filled with explosive gas but rather a flammable liquid that made no allowance for oxygen, the walls here would not fall from internal explosions.

"You've learned from our mistakes at Khagakur." Then a light bulb went off above Rokesh's head. "...Or were the mistakes your idea too?"

Moving on. The walls were spiked like the current Khagakur too, it appeared that the fortress was designed to counter every attempt at a breach. The personnel weren't anything to spit at either, archers lined the walls with impressive aim and those blasted rune bows, the little multi colored goblin things roamed the fortress freely on the backs of wolf, Spider, lizard and Slug.

"Those ones are the ones my master were most concerned with exterminating, I still don't know why." Rokesh commented looking at the little goblin things running around.

"Oh they use to work for him." Tsuare stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Say what?" Rokesh asked having the same puzzled expression as what Tsuare had when it was first explained to her, which was impressive when you considered how vastly different their faces were.

"As I understand it: Jaldabaoth was one of several Overlords who ruled my masters native home land. Their father was one of nine people who over threw him and he would go on to take his place as Overlord." Of course they omitted certain details, such as the fact that in the process of taking over he slaughtered most of the other heroes who were corrupted by the body hopping Overlord's influence. "But then Jaldabaoth possessed someone and tried to open a portal to the afterlife, and their grandfather was trapped there shutting it down. Ah but that was almost half a century ago." Tsuare recalled on more recent events, ones that she was actually present for. "My foolish former captors tried a ritual of some kind and summoned a demon army under Jaldabaoth's command to invade the capital, Master Kieran killed his physical body and now..."

"He's hopping from summoned creature to summoned creature in order to compensate. Until recently that is." Rokesh closed his eyes as he debated his next move. "I feel like telling the brown woman something interesting: could you go fetch her for me?"

It was true that Jaldabaoth wasn't in the dragon zombie composite that Kieran had killed. He was now inhabiting the body of one of the succu-zern that they had bred. Well after they killed the Zern King that body molted into a incu-Zern King. The others were already distributed to the captains, warchiefs and overlords of the army. But they were not breeders as Succubi are normally bred to be, rather most Demi-humans have their own form of attractiveness, many would not find the humanoid bug demons to be all that good looking. That said they would still try to seduce their superiors for the purpose of creating powerful offspring. Rather each and every one of them had powerful support type magic, any unit that had one would be significantly more powerful.

"Hmm." Balloma seemed to be debating how to interpret this new information.

"What is it Balloma did this fellow screw us over?" Kieran asked leaning against a wall of the cave. "Neia could always use some 'Rainbow Scale Armor.'"

"That depends on the situation, both waiting before he told us, and the long story that came with it could be tactics meant to delay us from acting until it's too late. The fact that he told us now might mean that he no longer thinks the information will make a difference." But there was also the other foot to think about as well. "On the other hand, after viewing how his men have been treated he's decided to share with us all the information he can."

"So he's playing both his boss and us like a fiddle. Ha!" Koriander had to admire that shrewd politician Rokesh. "What's our next move?"

"I propose that we take the things that Jaldabaoth has built and smash them one by one. Our grandfather in the abyss won't be satisfied until we've drawn out the pain and suffering of his hated enemy for as long as possible." Jaldabaoth had smaller camps littering the Abellon hills, filled with slaves who worked his mines until unto the brink of death, and farms where those who had been made into cattle had their meat and skin removed and regrown for the purpose of producing food and magic scrolls for his troops.

"So it's a demolition derby eh? Fine by me: Neia." The squired stood straight up at attention to Kieran's words. "Go tell the men 'We're hosting a party in one of Jaldabaoth's concentration camps, and all of you are invited.'"

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 **Review Section** :

rmarcano321: That he is. Typo.


	58. Chapter 58

**Author's Note** : Not a heck of a lot to say right now. Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy!

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Chapter 58: Provocation

The camp was quiet, a little too quiet. It was rare that the slaves, humans and the low few Demi-Humans who refused to join Jaldabaoth's ranks, weren't bellyaching so much and it made the guards concerned, so they came down from the post to check on them. They were asleep it seems, or dead, he really didn't care to know. The fact that they had stopped moaning and gotten to the program was no reason why he had to not get any sleep. Suddenly a sound that made his ear's bleed echoed out as someone picked that time to play a very loud instrument.

"Whoever that is...!" Before he could continue that rant though the guard suddenly fell to his knees as he found his body giving out on him with a deep and profound heaviness placed on him. "Debuff magic?" Someone was using that racket as a medium to bring the entire camp to it's knees. "Quickly! Find the source of that racket!" The other guards used binoculars to comb the area. They briefly saw the flash of flame as moltov cocktails were chucked all the way up to the top of the towers and set the whole thing on fire in one go. Most of the guards didn't make it off in time having been affected by the Debuff spells, the ones that did escape had a unpleasant encounter with the ground, and a follow up meeting with the collapsing towers.

"Alright let's mop this up." Kieran ordered as he turned the minions loose on the camp.

Fire types made use of artillery strikes loud enough to let the next three camps over know that they were under attack. Blue types played the Debuff music bringing demi-human personnel to their knees though the sound and fury. Green types went into the crippled camps and freed the prisoners and slashed the throats of their personnel. Berzerker type browns demolished the make shift camps and prisons with the intent of never having them recover.

Almost overnight all of the mining, farming and engineering camps in the Abellon hills had been utterly destroyed. A creature resembling a huge demonic insect person was sat upon a thrown in Roble's former capital. He had four arms, large beetle wings and shell and a hardened exoskeleton, he had human like features, not unlike the Succu-zern that so much trouble was spent on breeding, he also wore a large war skirt draped down to his ankles, with something mighty lumpy underneath. This was Jaldabaoth, demon lord of the Demi-Human alliance, and most recently in the body of one of the Succu-zern that was bred by his forces, though as a result of his actions it had since made the switch to a male of the species, a Incu-zern if you will. Right now he was glowering at a map, with various pins put into it indicating various camps which had been seized by the enemy forces, and watched as another pin was put into place by one of his assistants.

"I've seen enough." Jaldabaoth fire balled the map, his intentions made clear. "We're moving straight towards the second phase, inform the men and have the magelos woman report to me immediately." The assistant nodded to the demon before she slithered away. Soon after she had left the familiar form of one Nasrene Belt Cure arrived inside of Jaldabaoth's throne room.

"Master?" Nasrene greeted simply as she fell to one knee.

"Nasrene was it? As I understand it you've petitioned me to allow you to conceive my child yes?" Jaldabaoth asked looking down on the four armed creature. A level 50, his current body was a level 65 and he himself a level 100, by this world's standards she was powerful magic caster, responsible for destroying the reinforced Dwarfen built walls that his enemies had built around Khagakur fortress, sadly though not powerful enough to participate in the siege afterwards, but it mattered little. "As you are likely aware, I have been experimenting with breeding more powerful minions using the seed of my summoned creatures. As those experiments have proven successful I would like to move onto phase two of this plan. That when I see if I can pass my power down my bloodline: you are one of several to volunteer for this process."

Jaldabaoth intended to wait longer before he tried to pass down his bloodline through the ranks, too much of a risk of inbreeding if he did it too early. But the longevity of his plans were not his main concern at the moment.

"Yes I understand." Nasrene stated as all four of her hands were working to disrobe herself. But Jaldabaoth was much faster then her as he stood up and removed the cloth that was wrapped around his lower half, and Nasrene quickly turned from lust to sheer all encompassing horror. "HHHIIIIYYYYYAAAAAAHHHHH!" What followed was a experience that she absolutely did not enjoy.

* * *

Balloma was sitting in front of a map of the Roble/Abellon hills with a cattle brand in hand, having just received word about the latest of the camps liberated in the most loud and obnoxious manner possible she branded that area of the map.

"So the full scale invasion of Jaldabaoth's territory continues eh?" Remedios did not like any of this.

There was no reason for these people to hand control of their territory back to them when all was said and done, Neia was on hand and there was no doubt in Remedios's mind who received the greater benefits from these overlord's training methods. For one thing Neia has already made the transition into one of their hybrids, so now she was dramatically faster and stronger, additionally she has been continuously gifted and collecting magical items as well, on top of all of that Remedios also held a clear disadvantage in range too. Perhaps most important of all was that Neia was aware of all of this.

"Yes. You're likely concerned about reclaiming your people's land as well." Balloma stated as she look in her turned deadly serious. "I will speak frankly. We're not interested in ruling your country." A fact which surprised everyone in the room but Balloma. "The tale of Baharuth's Bloody Emperor should serve as a precautionary tale about trying to over exert one self." A slightly relieved look flashed across Remedios's face. "I'm not done yet. We have not gone through the trouble of hunting Jaldabaoth down and preparing a trap to send him to our grandfather in hell just to create another enemy."

"Alright." Remedios pulled up and chair, turned it around, and sat down on it to face Balloma. "Let's hear it."

"Obviously, your previous state religion which advocates the mass slaughter of our vassals is intolerable." Meaning the Demonic, the Undead and the Demi-Humans.

"We're going to be a bit busy with internal affairs to worry about that." Remedios stated shrugging her shoulders.

"Meaning?" Balloma asked cocking a suspicious brow.

"You haven't met any southern nobles yet have you?" Remedios replied as her hands balled into fists. "Isn't that a little strange to you?"

Thinking about it carefully, shouldn't the Northern Holy Roble Kingdom's allies in the south have been the first people to hop on board with the effort to chase Jaldabaoth out of the Kingdom?

"What happened?" Balloma asked legitimately curious.

"Apparently allying with you lot goes in blatant violation of our religious doctrine." Remedios stated as her eye twitched furiously.

"The ally of our enemy is it?" Balloma stated cocking a not so suspicious brow.

"We'll get by, provided that we have the resources you've given us, and the overall improvements to our forces you've helped us to make." Remedios stated shrugging her shoulders.

"I sense a change in heart from you." Balloma stated cocking a suspicious brow.

"Don't look so surprised." Remedios stated with a irritated tone of voice. "I am capable of learning from my mistakes." Evil Smite was not effective against most of the Demi-Humans because most Demi-humans were not evil, though most of them did think of humans as food. Crippling overspecialization Kieran called it, in exchange for a one hit kill type effect that worked against ten percent of the population she as a paladin was all but useless against he remaining ninety percent. But as a berserker Remedios got the chance to vent her resentment against the hated enemy, and could ironically even think clearer now. "Going forward my role in the grand scheme of things is going to have to be different."

"So does that mean you're going to be standing down as paladin commander?" Balloma asked looking at Remedios suspiciously.

"Yeah. Gustav is going to be doing that for now on." That hyper competent person Balloma met in Baharuth's holding cells as she recalled. Perhaps having a bad example close at hand helped to mold him in a reliable general manager type that could handle the broad influx of the troops. "Of course I will be maintaining the role of Paladin Champion." Which also makes sense, people with high combat ability should be put on the front lines in conflict.

"You've had the chance to converse with Rokesh yes?" Balloma questioned cocking a brow suspiciously.

"I've already used Evil Smite on him and I didn't even scratch him so he's not the worst among the Demi-Humans leaders." Remedios's skills had a unexpected use here, they could filter out those who were going to be troublesome down the line.

"There were a number of Demi-humans who were being held in the camps alongside your people I trust there won't be much of a problem to bring them in with us?" Well until her brother stopped demolishing Abellon camps it was going to be difficult finding places for them to live, their territories in the Empire and The Kingdom were already being overcrowded with humans. The Main issue here was that they had so little to do, there was only so many of them they could train for the army or teach magic and craftsmanship, if they brought anymore people over then they'd start lazing about doing nothing while draining resources, or if they continuously bring people over until their consumption of resources exceed the rate they acquire them then they could face a uprising from this hoard of people they trained/transformed into literal monsters and that was unacceptable. "Neia could you inform Tsuare that we wish to hold a meeting between Rokesh and the Paladin Champion over here? No perhaps King Caspond would be the better choice." Balloma instructed prompting Neia to bow before running off.

Tsuare had developed a odd relationship with Rokesh, perhaps because of her time spent with monsters who look like humans she developed a weird affinity for the Demi-humans. Then again Rokesh's people had done a lot of horrible things to humans as well, but maybe Tsuare wasn't concerned about that. She was shown the torture of Cocodoll and the members of Eight fingers, so Balloma had thought her resentment had faded.

"You're staying out of the meeting?" Remedios asked looking at Balloma suspiciously.

"I've said it before didn't I? We don't want your lands. We're only helping because we want to kill Jaldabaoth and we don't want you people to become a problem in the future. Forming an alliance is fine but first I want to make sure this mess doesn't start up again, and that means the two of you learning to get along without the threat of us beating you up." There was no point in going through all this trouble to end the war between these fellows if they just start trying to kill each other as soon as they leave.

"Mistress Balloma!" Suddenly Neia rushed back panic strewn all over her face. "Lemme guess a giant army consisting of demons and Demi-humans have appeared in the fields and skies outside of our fortress?" Balloma asked prompting a shocked Neia to gasp. "It's about time." Balloma took a step outside and bore witness to the gathered army of Jaldabaoth, no doubt here in retaliation for Kieran's rampage against them. "Alright Jaldabaoth, it looks like it's almost time to end this."

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 **Review Section** :

rmarcano321: That he is. He's Jaldabaoth's right hand man, Raja Naga which is basically a cross between a Naga and a Dragon Newt and the singular strongest demi-human in Abellon hils. Kieran would be Neia's superior, she doesn't interact with the other two that much but Koriander scares her. Last I checked it was.

Wacko12: They're mostly just hurt that he's been turned against them, the fact that he has enough of his senses to command the enemy troops does indicate that he's not under the full influence of the Golden.


	59. Chapter 59

**Author's Note** : Only three chapters left to go, including this one, before a indefinite hiatus until Overlord updates again. With that in Mind, Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy!

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Chapter 59: The Beginning of The Final Battle

Caspond's health had improved if only a little. Koriander's enchanted armor was serving as a life support unit for him, and he had slaughtered plenty of mid level summons so a large chunk of his life force had been restored to him. Sat across from him in a curled up mess was Rokesh, Jaldabaoth's number two in the Demi-Human coalition who was leveling a glare at Caspond. Clearly neither of them were very happy to be here.

"Remind me, why are we here again?" Rokesh asked as he rested his elbow on the table and glared at Caspond.

"Because my people are on the brink of ruin, and after these so called 'overlords' are done chewing them out so will yours." Caspond stated in a tired tone of voice.

"Mutually assured destruction." Rokesh stated as he flicked his tongue through the air as he thought about it. "That is better then the alternative. Without the use of a supreme ruler to unite us we will once again break down into in fighting and wipe each other out." As it stands Balloma and the others have no intention of taking control of them, so when Jaldabaoth dies then will come the infighting, the civil war, and finally their destruction at their very own hands.

"You can't be that ruler?" Caspond asked looking at Rokesh suspiciously.

"I am stronger than virtually any single one of my peers make no mistake about that." Rokesh stated making things clear in no uncertain terms.

"But if enough individuals ganged up on me..." The incident with the strike team was a prime example: if a group of individuals about as powerful as that team that fought him in his citadel were to tear through his forces and fight him he'd likely wind up dead. "And I am not the only one on my level of power either, but if one of them were the ones sitting here talking to you..." There would be very little sitting and even less talking. "If not a supreme ruler then we'd need a common enemy to fight against, which leads back to making war with your people."

"'A nation felled by their enemies may rise again. But a nation that falls from within will remain collapsed.'" Caspond quoted a famous strategist of his people. "If we are the ones who defeat you, you can at least rally and rebuild your people. But if you are the ones to defeat you then the lingering grudges born of that will make rebuilding impossible."

"Then you understand my problem." Rokesh stated letting out a sigh.

"It's not too different then my situation either." Caspond stated sympathetically. "We don't exactly have a friendly relationship with our friends in the south. You may have noticed the absence of southern soldiers in our formations." Indeed, the south's refusal to act could be interpreted as their feeding their counterparts in the north to Jaldabaoth's forces, either as a way of weakening them for the time they have to fight them themselves, and at worst using the demon to get rid of them. "Unless they are under the threat of a army like the one that your master controls they will not cooperate with us." Caspond explained as he crossed his arms, clearly frustrated.

"If I might be so bold to suggest." Remedios piped up now. "I was wrong about your people, snake." Remedios brought out her sword. "I was told that my evil smite attack was a blow that would instantly fell any one with evil in their heart without fail." The implication of that when applied to the numerous members of the Demi-Human coalition, and the low few successes it faced, were clear. "You were not our enemy snake, that much is clear to me now."

"No we were enemies." Rokesh stated in no simple terms. "We regarded you as little more than cattle, and you regarded us as little more than monsters who regularly abduct your people for the purpose of being devoured. But things can be different." Rokesh was not obsessed with proving himself the strongest. He had no desire to rule the world. He did not wish to see the skulls of his enemies crushed in his hand like so many tomatoes. His goal was survival, for that reason he became strong and gathered together strong allies, for that reason he brokered peace with rival clans and did his best to keep the in fighting between the clans down to a minimum. "In any case. I believe there are some pests outside that need to be dealt with."

The Succu-Zern were flying through the air above the army of the Demi-Human coalition. Remedios was positioned above the wall over the enemy and looked down on them.

"Alright. Let's hope your 'plan' to get rid of those things works out." Remedios stated as she looked at the enemy in the sky. Koriander stood atop the tallest tower in Khagakur. "High Tier Summon: Shark-Nado!"

A combination elemental and summoning spell, a massive tornado appeared in front of Koriander and from within it the light of summoning magic appeared, releasing Sky Sharks into the whirling mass of air. The idea was to gather the airborne enemy up into one place, the fact that vicious airborne predators was released into the funnel of air that she had summoned could be thought of as little more than a useful bonus. Light that numerous demons were sucked into the tornado and torn to pieces, but mysteriously enough not the flying demi-humans.

"Brothers! Sisters! Hear me!" The Demi-humans were surprised to say the least to see Jaldabaoth's right hand man appear on the walls of the fortress. "We have been lied to! There is no future for our kind under the Demon Lord! Already he makes plans to consume us!" Rokesh gestured into the air where demons met vicious airborne predators in a funnel of air. "To carve our bloodlines to pieces and pick out the best parts for use in his real army! The Demon Lord has no allies! He has no Followers! He has only those that he deems to fit in his grand design!"

Demon and Demi-human alike seemed to catch on to what was going on now. Fighting broke out between those who followed Jaldabaoth and those that did not as powerful magics and Martial Arts ran rampant.

"But we are a people who bow to no one! We will not be enslaved! We will not be Disposed of! We will take everything that Jaldabaoth has built for us! And we will crush all those who stands in our way!"

By now they had a clearer idea of where the enemies made their ranks. It was so fortunate that Jaldabaoth had been so thorough in organizing his army, the army had been carved into units led by captains, now to figure out which group belonged to which side.

"Evil Smite!" Remedios used her Smite Evil art one a group fighting near the wall, which resulted in a success killing the captain of that group. But his men received no measure of mercy either, as Dwelf Archers loosed rune-enchanted arrows into their formation with a bang.

"One down, a hundred left to go." Remedios would need a minuet to recharge her martial art, but luckily she was not alone.

"""""""EVIL SMITE!""""""

With Remedios's attack as the opening more of the Evil Smite attacks were loosed on the ones next to the wall, some fell and others stood, many had outright died and the ranks were thrown into chaos. Then Rokesh played his cue and flew down to the ground.

"I give one chance only!" Rokesh stated to the surprise of the numerous broken parties of Demi-Humans. "Join me now, and let us be rid of the self proclaim ruler of our lands at once!"

Rokesh lived up to his durability, blades snapped on his armor, and mummified corpses were left on the end of his trident and used as a blunt instrument to smack around other Demi-humans until the corpse had been smashed off, once the make shift bludgeon was gone Rokesh would repeat the process until his trident was 'fully charged'.

"Plasma Lance!"

The accumulated water inside of the trident was converted into hydrogen and oxygen, that was then charged with lightning and converted into a red hot mass of plasma before firing it out as a red stream of super heated energy and pierced through a large number of the enemies. Rokesh waved the super heated weapon threateningly, he had built up enough for a few charges and anyone who was familiar with basics of how magic weapons worked knew this immediately.

"Who wants to go first?"

Immediately Demi-humans surrendered, the wise ones joined Rokesh's group and helped to support him. With the aid of the new recruits Rokesh's opportunity's to reload his weapon had dramatically multiplied, and enemy demi-humans were being funneled to the wall where Jaldabaoth's loyalists fell under the fire of Evil Smite. The survivors understood enough to join the winning side and soon who was in control of the battle field changed very quickly.

"I'm very disappointed with you Rokesh!" The familiar form of a huge six limbed insect winged demon appeared above the battle field and looked down directly at Rokesh. "Here I thought I found someone who understands the concept of loyalty."

"Loyal am I? I don't recall swearing loyalty to a body hopping cockroach like you." Rokesh stated accusingly pointing his trident at Jaldabaoth. "I worked for you to guarantee the survival of those under my care." Rokesh gestured broadly to the half demons up in the air. "Just as I betray you now to guarantee our survival."

"That is deeply disappointing Rokesh." Jaldabaoth stated before her raised up a single hand and producing a idol depicting a six armed demon holding six different colored jewels. "Armageddon Evil."

The six jewels simultaneously activated six spells at one time, they fed off of each other and amplified their effects like with Kieran's Sexta Giga attack, then the magic in the statue itself activated: summoning a group of demons, times one hundred thousand. The sky was torn open as demonic beasts were rained down on the world below, shadows crawled along the ground and attacked and consumed the Demi-Humans on the ground, spitting them out as possessed. Winged Devils appeared in the sky and rained down fire balls from above. Soul Eaters dropped from the sky and landed with crushing blows to devour Demi-humans around them, adding their faces to it's stomach and their souls to their arsenal. It was a scene one could only describe as being hell on earth, but they were were not the only ones who knew how to instant summon a army.

"Hey they beat us to it." Koriander mentioned as she watched the sudden appearance of the army of demons in the sky.

"Well I guess that's what we get when we possess the same base of magic and technology." Balloma mentioned letting out a sigh. "Are you sure this is gonna work?"

* * *

"In theory. Yes." Koriander called over Demiurge who brought out a ornate little statuette and placed it on the Machiculation on the side of the wall, before immediately taking several steps back and wiping his hands like he had just touched something that was complete and utter filth. "What's the matter, our newest toy giving you the heebee jeebie's Demiurge?" Koriander asked open mockery on her face.

"It's not my favorite no."

The statue was like the one Jaldabaoth had in many ways: it depicted a six armed individual who was holding onto six separate gems. There were however two key differences, the first being that this statue was of a Asura, a angelic being as oppose to a demonic one, and the second was unlike Jaldabaoth's idol which was made of stone this one was made of crystal. It was the summoning crystal the group had taken off of the members of the sunlight scripture, post hefty modifications by Koriander's team to make a number of... improvements to it. Demiurge used the term very loosely you'd have to understand. The inclusion of six different elemental crystals would dramatically augment the power behind the crystal, the large scale modifications would replace the large eighty plus singular summon with a army of lower level summons. While less powerful the high tier Angel that was originally inside of the crystal in exchange they could act more surgically on the battle field.

"Can't be helped, we need an obedient army not a bunch of wild animals dumped on the battlefield." Angels unlike demons were easy to control, provided that you did nothing to anger them, demons by nature were competitive, egotistical and treacherous, angels in comparison were obedient, cooperative and loyal to those who possessed a sufficiently high Karma rating. Which led to the next point.

"Another Demon?" Remedios stated approaching Koriander and Demiurge as they discussed the item that they had put on the stone slab between them.

"One who understands the concept of loyalty, but yes." Koriander stated simply.

"Lovely. Is he like Jaldabaoth too?" Remedios asked looking the demon up and down.

"If you mean that your Evil Smite attack will work on him then yes: But I believe that is only because he has the power to calmly commit acts of evil for those he cares about. Like the old you did against the Demi-humans." Koriander explained as she smirked knowingly.

"I'm not sure how much I liked the old me though." Remedios countered only getting more suspicious. "You needed me for something?"

"We want you to help with the summoning ceremony to bring a army of angels over to fight off Jaldabaoth's army." Koriander stated gesturing to the idol.

"I'm not a mage though." Remedios replied as she looked confused.

"You're the battlefield commander aren't you? This way they'll listen to you." Saying that Koriander held out the idol in the palm of both of her hands and Remedios took them into her's. Closing their eyes a huge amount of magical power flowed through Koriander's hands into Remedios's and through them into the crystal in question. A huge beam of light shot into the sky and a rift open, raining down Asura's, Arch angel's, Cherub's and other angelic beings to begin slaughtering the demons. "Now the real war has begun Jaldabaoth." Koriander stated smirking at the demon in question.

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 **Review Section** :

rmarcano321: That she does. Cocytus's recipe for Meat pies: remove a prisoner's flesh, grind it up, and feed them a health potion. Meanwhile Cocytus converts the meat into a meat pie, horrible chef Cocytus his food tastes like crap, and serve to prisoner. Repeat as necessary.


	60. Chapter 60

**Author's Note** : Alright, After this it'll just be another chapter before I'm going to be done with this story for quite a while. So, Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy!

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Chapter 60: The Defeat of the Demon Lord

The battle field had devolved into a slug fest, to prevent them from being taken by demons the humans and what allied Demi-humans they could collect were possessed by angel's instead. Right now top priority went to wiping out as many demons as possible, they were still going to use the fusion/evolution of Demon and Ogre to trap him, but before they deployed the ogre's to the battle field they needed to eliminate the monsters that could possess them. Towards that end...

"Slash Wave! Hundred cuts!" Charging his blade with a steady stream of holy energy Kieran fired off hundreds of slashes of the yellow colored energy at incoming demons, bisecting most of them in one hit, those that didn't fall after one hit were finished in two. Koriander was making use of her own magic to buff the various angel's on the battle field who were disposing of demons and the demonically possessed. And all the while a path was being carved towards Jaldabaoth.

"If nothing else, some spectacular warriors should emerge from this battle." Jaldabaoth stated slouching on a throne floating above the battle field. "But in terms of quality they're all lacking in comparison to what is coming forward." Kieran was on a rampage, he was decked out in full dragon armor and he was channeling more raw power then most people can comprehend in a life time. He was definitely Ainz's grandson, not so much of the wizard was in him as much as his sister, still the combination of Kieran's vast physical power and Jaldabaoth's own magical power would make for an unstoppable combination. "Still the boy needs some wearing down first." With a snap of his fingers Jaldabaoth commanded the demons and the Demi-humans under his control to dog pile on Kieran, flinging as much magic at him as possible. Kieran mopped up the attacks with a adamantine blade and sent them back from whence they came with a full counter slash. However once Kieran's back was turned a group of the possessed had sneaked up behind him.

"Fire Lance!" Said group was incinerated by Koriander who was now riding through the night sky on the back of the dragon. "Maximize Magic: Cloud Cover!" Clapping her hands together Koriander willed the sky to disappear behind a magical cloud cover. "Maximize magic, Widen Area: Bless Liquid!" Spreading out her hands Koriander had holy power enter all of the clouds over the battle field. "For the Final Touch! Widen Magic: Rain Dance!" Thus the holy/demonic equivalent of Acid rain took place as the battlefield below was showered with Holy power. The demonically possessed shrieked in pain as they had a nasty reaction to the holy water, their bodies taking on a waxy like texture as they rapidly melted down, only stopped after their corpses were left with permanent looks of agony, torment and terror on what was left of their faces, the end of the demons was comparatively less horrific as they simply dissolved into the light of summoning magic. Jaldabaoth was having none of it, he held his hand above his head and produced a barrier to keep the rain from coming down on his head, members of his possessed army had the same idea as they used shields as umbrellas.

"You were better off in the rain Traitor." Kieran snapped as he raised his blade to Jaldabaoth. "Because now I'm gonna have a worst fate waiting for you."

"No worst then what I am going to do to you!" The rain stopped after Koriander's 'ammunition' had run dry leaving a sea of corpses in her wake, ripe for the taking. "Summon High Tier undead: Death Dragon!" The familiar ichor came off of Jaldabaoth in a wave as his magic pulsed through the area and consumed the corpses of numerous of his fallen warriors on the ground. The accumulated corpses were merged together and from the resulting cocoon of darkness a monster was born, a giant monster composed of corpses that had been stapled and hooked together via rib bones and arms and legs of numerous Demi-Humans.

"Shouldn't be too hard to take down." Koriander commented looking down at the monster. "Unfortunately I'm starting to run a little low." Under normal circumstances Koriander would have just dumped a maximized healing spell on top of that thing and turn it into goo. But she had already spat out three widened spells two of which were maximized spells, her magical power was feeling quite drained at the moment. "Brother I'm going to have to go restore my magical power: in the mean time you kill that thing!" Koriander shouted directing her brother's attention to the only host body that Jaldabaoth actually had access to.

"Sure, why not." Kori wasn't the only one with access to healing items though: Kieran pulled out his hunting horn and with all his might chucked it at the moment mouth of the Death Dragon as it prepared to unleash unpleasantness on Kieran. The Healing potion inside of the horn rapidly started to break down the monster from the inside out until all that was left was a decomposed heap of rot, primed for use as high grade soil for a farm.

"Very good but tell me: have you planned for the others as well?" At that moment Jaldabaoth finished his second summoning spell, and a second wave of Ichor consumed another chunk of his fallen army before merging into a second death dragon. Kieran could only give a look of being complete and utterly unamused. Suddenly a projectile wizzed through the air as a combination of wind, fire and holy magics came crashing down on the head of the second death Dragon. Kieran turned behind him but could see nothing as far back as Loyts, were he a guessing man he would say that the increased size of Neia's target the height of Loyts wall must have considerably improved Neia's already impressive range.

"Alright this should work." As long as Kieran had Neia and the other Sacred archers to deal with the Death Dragon then Kieran should be able to deal with Jaldabaoth.

"Summon High Tier Undead: Death Dragon!" At that moment a third mass of Ichor was released into the area and consumed the remaining corpses of Jaldabaoth's army transforming them into a huge Death Dragon.

As long as Kieran had Neia to deal with one of the Death Dragon's then he could focus on getting rid of the other. But alas they had no time for that: Jaldabaoth's army was already in ruins, so he decided to launch a strategic retreat for the time being, after all as long as he survives he can rebuild his collection of Pawns to break down the three Overlords and take one of their bodies for his own.

"Now where do you think you're going?" When Jaldabaoth turned around he saw one of his targets standing behind him, Balloma who was accompanied by a group of minions. "Hello traitor. How are you?"

"You?" Jaldabaoth had to laugh at what he saw. "Thanks to your siblings my army and much of my plans are now in a state of ruin so now I must launch a withdraw." The Demon stated making his deep seated irritation known to Balloma. "And what does the weakest of my rival's grand children plan to do to stop me?"

"Did I say that I was planning on stopping you?" Balloma asked cocking a suspicious brow before she turned to look at one of the Minions next to her. "Did I say I was planning on stopping him?" The minion shook his head in the negative. "I don't believe I'm here to stop you from leaving."

"What other possible reason for you to be here other than a appalling attempt to stop me?" Jaldabaoth laughed at that, though if she wasn't stopping her from leaving then he should probably do so before his distraction expires.

"I'm stalling you." At that moment Koriander acted, high above the cloud cover she completed her Super Tier spell casting Fallen Down and finished off the Death Dragon that Kieran had been bullying causing it to explode in a shower of Rot.

"One Down." Kieran muttered as he looked up to the sky. Course Koriander hadn't made a round trip back to Loyts just to provide a distraction.

"""EVIL SMITE""" Joining Koriander on her dragon were several paladins who cast Evil smite down on the head of the remaining death dragon reducing it to little more than a rotting mass of top soil beneath the feet of those who were still on the ground. The dragon followed up by loosing a mass of fire breath on the enemy soldiers below eliminating more bodies the Demon parasite could take.

"Just you and me!" Kieran charged forward to slash through Jaldabaoth's body, he took advantage of Kieran's lowered guard to exit from the body of the Demonic Demi-human to try and enter Kieran's but was met with a solid unyielding force instead. "Nice try!" A combination of Kieran's will power and the copper reinforced armor Koriander had prepared had stopped Jaldabaoth dead in his tracks, so instead he went to plan B and flew over towards Balloma and the group of Minions. Only for them to disappear before his eyes the blighted illusions! With this Jaldabaoth flew up into the air to try and take one of the bodies up in the sky as his latest host.

"HIIIIIYYYYAAAAHHHH!"

Only to be greeted by the terrified screams of a Ogre who had been pushed off of the Dragon and was now on a collision course with Jaldabaoth. Having a new host body quite literally thrust upon on him Jaldabaoth ended up going into it. Magical light consumed the newly created combination of demon and Ogre and with a bright burst of light the evolution had been completed, the new body was a bit smaller then the Ogre's original frame, vaguely human like though it was by no stretch of the imagination weaker, the accumulated mass of the ogre had been crushed into the smaller frame giving far more strength to work with. Large horns had sprouted from his head and his fangs had grown out considerably while his skin had turned into a tanned color, over all it was a very wild look. Sadly the fall hadn't done them any favors as most of his bones were broken, he'd need to take another body soon. On that note Kieran was walking forward again.

"Are you going cast healing magic? Or are you going to try body hopping again?" Almost like he was volunteering Kieran removed his helmet and tossed it to the ground.

"You'll pay for mocking me severely!" Jaldabaoth released his spirit and sent it towards Kieran to take that High tier body of his for himself. Or at least he tried to. "UGH! What!?" Jaldabaoth had a horrified look on the face he stole, one that he realized was now his permanently. "What did you do!?" Jaldabaoth snapped glaring at the Overlord Candidate angrily.

"What did _you_ do you mean." Kieran laughed as he circled around the newly born Oni. "You took the body of a creature who was ready to evolve, one who only needed one final catalyst to make the push: a demon's soul." Jaldabaoth had a horrified look on his features as he started casting healing magic on himself, however he found his attempts failing. "What did you think that we were just going to shove you in there and then duke it out in a fair fight!?" Kieran found himself laughing at that. "You already busted out three high tier spells, My sister probably sucked that body dry of magical power, so I'm going to assume that you're feeling a little drained. On top of that is your little fall from grace." Suddenly Jaldabaoth coughed as he spat out what suspiciously looked like a rotting mass of flesh. "Ah she poisoned that body before she sent it down here too. As you can imagine we don't believe in what you'd call a 'fair fight.' Of course I don't wanna be saying that to the guy who goes through bodies like the rest of us go through socks." Jaldabaoth could already feel himself slipping, his conscious was getting hazy and the pain was fading from his body. "Do you think I will take this lying down!? The minuet you summon another Demon!?" "You'll what hitch a ride back to the land of the living?" Kieran snorted at that. "Just so that you know our grand father has missed your presence down there in the Abyss." A look of sheer terror intensified on the Oni's face. "In fact he's missed you so much that we're sending you directly to him, don't worry though he's been looking after your old house while you've been gone too." Translation, we're releasing you into your arch nemesis's custody, he's already taken control of your territory while you were in the Abyss, Resistance is futile.

"I... I cannot... Die like..." And then he did. The rampaging army of the Overlords took them all the way to Roble's former capital where Jaldabaoth had been making his base of power, but what they found there is a story for another day.

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 **Author's Note** :

rmarcano321: I thought you would. In my opinion, it is more horrific to be made to eat one's own flesh then to have it eaten. I know demons can use healing magic like the others, when Neuronist had that guy from Heavy masher hostage she introduced him to a group of demons who would be healing his body as she mutilates it.


	61. Chapter 61

**Author's Note** : Last one for Quite a while ladies and gents, so enjoy it while it lasts. Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy!

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Chapter 61: The Holy Queen

Word of Jaldabaoth's loss had reached all the way to the heart of his territory, panic was already settling in among the demons and the Demi-Humans as the slaves were already getting restless with talk of the Roble army marching onto their door step. One of the Zoastra were running through the area and brought with him a message scroll for the upper management left in charge of the area, a member of the Raja Naga tribe.

"Master Rokesh has returned from the battle field!" The panic stricken Tiger centaur was shouting about the returning Demi-Human army.

"So I see that the rumors of master Jaldabaoth's death were greatly exaggerated it would seem." Saying that the Raja naga flew over to the outer wall of their fortress, and was surprised with what he saw on the other side: the holy Roble army and leading them was his own tribal chief Rokesh. "What the...!?"

"Open this gate or we shall open it for you!" Rokesh snapped as he pointed his trident threateningly at the man on the wall. Still flabbergast the gaping snake man managed to exhaust Rokesh's patience. "Zaryusu." Rokesh stated letting the dual wielding lizard man pass him.

"Understood sir."

Using the Runes in the handles of his weapons Zaryusu produced a massive amount of water from thin air and slammed it into every nook and cranny of the wall, then using the enchantments of his blades Zaryusu froze the water in the water, with a sound like pottery shattering the wall was broken apart by the exploding ice. Rokesh followed up Zaryusu's ground work by stabbing his trident into the wall of ice and rock and fired off his plasma attack directly into the wall at point blank range. The shock wave of explosive power tore down the entire wall leaving a hole big enough to march the army through, thanks to Rokesh the defenders of the fortress were quick to surrender. Aside from being their commanding officer short of Jaldabaoth Rokesh was the highest authority within the Demi-human coalition, and now the demon lord was dead.

"The matter of the slaves can be sorted out later: where are the members of the humans royal family?" Rokesh asked as he looked down at his subordinates.

"Ah... well." That was a complicated matter.

When Remedios was led to the dungeons underneath the royal castle she was led to what was left of her sister and the Holy Queen.

"Remedios come play with us!" Every shred of dignity and grace of the Holy Queen Calca had been violently stripped away.

"It's soooooo good to see you again Sister!" Similarly the high priest of the church and Remedios's sister Kelart was but a shadow of her former self.

Unlike the prince they had at least received new clothing: if you can call nipple piercings and see through waist cloths clothes, the lack of fabric also clearly exposed the visible bulges where their stomachs were indicating that they were a few months into their pregnancies. Of more interest to Koriander though were their eyes, demon red.

"I assume your sister and Queen didn't have red eyes the last time you saw them?" Koriander asked as she seemed to have a smirk of understanding on her features.

"I assume this has something to do with your demons witch." Remedios asked, though her tone of voice had a trace of insults mixed in.

"Succubi if I had to guess. Jaldabaoth was trying to cross breed people with demons yes?" Koriander stated shrugging her shoulders.

"Can you remove them?" Remedios asked glaring down at her sister clenching her fist.

"The demon fetus's will have to be removed first of course: your religion bans abortion doesn't it?" Koriander stated shrugging her shoulders indicating there was nothing she could do.

"We make exceptions for forced impregnation by demon." Remedios snapped as if the statement was obvious.

"I'll have our medical specialist remove them shortly, afterwards I have a specialty method of removing demons." In that moment something seemed to occur to Koriander. "However I think I have a alternate proposal for the both of them."

According to Koriander they had two options: Abortion and demonic exorcism, remove both the demon inside the two women and Jaldabaoth's spawn within thereby reverting them to their pre-demonic state. Option two, they use the power of the golden to convert the demons possessing them into angels and the spawn growing in their bellies into Nephilim, there by literally transforming them into 'holy people.'

"This Golden doesn't have any side effects doesn't it?" Remedios asked looking quite suspicious.

"It renders the subject into such a high you might call it a lobotomy though that part can be treated." As if to emphasize her point Koriander called over Albedo. "Albedo here was originally a succubus, a brush with the golden turned her into a angel, thanks to my corruption magics she's in a sort of mid point right now." To use racial levels, Albedo had five levels in Succubus, and five in her angelic counterpart a Cupid. "Combining corruption and purification magic should be able to allow us to reach an ideal mid-point and allow her personality to return to normal, assuming that is we knew what their karma levels were before Jaldabaoth got his hands on them." Koriander was already looking through one of her books to use as reference material.

"Karma levels? You were talking about it before as well right?" Remedios asked cocking a suspicious brow at Koriander.

"The better person you are, and the worst a person your target is the more effective your Evil Smite attack is correct? Karma refers to the system by which these values are measured, and their characteristics are determined by the personality of the subjects in question." Koriander explained shrugging her shoulders.

"Is that the reason why my Evil Smite attack was only effective against certain Demi-humans?" Remedios asked uncomfortably glancing at her sister.

"I see you're confused so let me explain." Koriander stated as she led the paladin leader away. "To use that Buser fellow as an example: while you may see the slaughter of your countrymen as a act of evil, to him all he was doing was farming meat for his men."

"'Are you a vegetarian.'" Remedios muttered in response to Koriander's explanation.

"Why yes actually, goes with the whole elf territory." Koriander stated looking quite proud of herself.

"Not you, something your sister said. 'The killing of a lesser unintelligent creature for the purpose of harvesting food and other supplies isn't evil.' Because Buser had that logic he could commit atrocity after atrocity and never cross into the territory as being Evil." The ones that her Evil smite had worked against were the ones who could acknowledge them as intelligent beings and that killing them were wrong, but had done so anyway. "You are a crafty one, witch." Remedios stated glaring at Koriander in her eyes.

A couple of days after the capital of the Roble Kingdom was seized a official statement was released to the public. Calca and Kelart were taken into the custody of the northern Roble Army, specialists from the Katze Coalition were sent over to overlook their recovery after their traumatic time spent under the demon lord.

"I see. So that's the situation." Kelart stated as she scratched her chin. Getting back into what you'd call a appropriate mental state was what you would call a bit of a challenge for the Holy Queen and High Priestess. The process of purification and Corruption were both equal parts unpleasant and painful. Once they had reached their original personalities though they were filled in on what had happened to them, between being possessed and Koriander messing with the personality sliders on their consciousnesses they were drawing a blank. "This can be turned into our favor, a blessing from the gods to protect us from the Demon Lord." Kelart stated her eyes now a sharp blue.

"And peace with the Demi-humans?" Calca asked her eye color back to a cyan blue. "You mentioned that you worked with a number of them to beat back Jaldabaoth right?"

"Jaldabaoth didn't just enslave humans, he enslaved anyone who refused to work with him, he made a lot of enemies. Katze has Demi Humans working for their coalition too, a few of them apparently infiltrated the ranks of the Demi-humans and... softened them for us." Remedios explained letting her sister come up with ideas all her own.

"It's good to know that peace between human and Demi-human is possible." Calca stated clapping her hands happily.

"At minimum this ceasefire means we will have time to rebuild our wall while we wait for someone else to get ambitious enough to take it down again." Kelart stated as she held her chin in her hand. "The real issue here is foes from within the wall, the Southern people who will not take kindly to the fact that we've made peace with the Demi-humans and these... Overlords you were talking about. Especially the one who makes playthings of corpses and associates with demons."

"Do you think they would mean to strike at them?" Remedios asked cocking a suspicious brow. "I believe they should be making plans to attack them."

"Then we have nothing to worry about in regards to our neighbors to the south." Remedios stated shrugging her shoulders.

"You're that confident in your new friends?" Kelart asked suspiciously.

"I am realistic: A Death Knight is a creature that can end an entire army by itself, they have thousands, what's worst is that they've developed nastier breeds of them using the corpses of Demi-humans and demonic magic. The only real hope of victory that the south has is Evil Smite, and as I've had to painfully come to terms with it is highly ineffective against the brainless mindless drones of the undead army." Remedios explained, to Kelart's noticeable confusion.

"You seem a lot more..."

"Intelligent. Thoughtful. Willing to cooperate and compromise with others?" Remedios asked cocking a brow at her sister. "It's called growth sister, without you two doing most of the work for me I've actually had to do my job. As it stands I've had... fairly decent examples to learn from."

"Understood." Kelart nodded in understanding before entering deep thought on the matter. "Letting our neighbors to the south know about our pregnancies is a bad plan, either they will learn that we have Jaldabaoth's spawn growing in our wombs or that we plot to announce them as spontaneous conception of our gods, in the first scenario they will use it as fuel to justify going to war with us, or in the second they will attempt to have us assassinated before our children undermines their hold."

"Funny you should mention that: the dragon snake running things over in Abellon hills mentioned that they aren't going to be able to keep things together over there with out someone to pick a fight with." Remedios stated letting the other two come to their own conclusions.

"Sigh. So we're going to war again are we?" Calca stated letting out a sigh as she realized what was happening.

"As is the fate of a military dictatorship." Remedios stated in a accepting tone of voice. "But that said, you two are going to have to pick up some slack around here, you wanted to make peace of with the Demi-humans Calca, you're gonna have to go talk to them. And Kelart, there's going to be some changes in the church that need smoothing over."

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Balloma, Koriander and Kieran finally returned to their home away from home best known as Nazarick tower. Koriander and Kieran went to their own rooms While Balloma sat down in front of a wall that had been painted to resemble a map of the world. A Red Minion came over to her and heated up a brand for Balloma to use, who promptly stamped the flaming symbol into the map over the northern Holy Roble kingdom.

"Now where to next."

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 **Review Section** :

rmarcano321: Thank you. Borrowed the idea from Overlord series. Holy power is generated by belief, and even the dead have gods: their names are Hades, Hel, Cthulu, Anubis, Sokar, Pluto and of course: Ainz Ooal Gown.


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